The Girl with the Blue Eyes
by CorneroftheMoon
Summary: A mysterious, rain soaked girl transfers to Kyo's class. What is unusual about this black-clad girl, and what secrets will be discovered by Kyo about her unusual way of life? KyoxOC REVIEW!
1. Chapter 1

** Author's Note: **This story is going to be another long one, so be prepared! I am super, uber excited for this one. Please check out my twitter: /cornerofthesun so that you can get updates from me on all of my writing and what's coming up! Enjoy.

-Echo

_**Chapter One- Kyo's Pov**_

_This was going to be a horrible day. _That was the first thought that crossed my mind as soon as I opened my eyes this morning, coming into consciousness to hear the pattering, of rain. And now, I was at school, it was raining, I was tired, and the teacher, was late. Wonderful, I just know I'll be cheerful today.

Everyone was out of their seats, laughing, joking with each other, playing cards, while I sat at my desk, my head on my arms, trying to sleep. But it was impossible with Uotani behind me, talking happily with Tohru. Hanajima was out sick today, a cold; so many people had it, the cold winter months finally taking their toll.

Ten minutes later, the teacher poked her head inside. "Sorry everyone, I'm going to have to ask you to stay here for about ten more minutes, there's a staff meeting that's going a little long!" She then disappeared once again.

Now that everyone knew when our teacher would be getting back, they knew just how much time they had to act crazy, to make as much noise as possible, and do basically everything they couldn't do under supervision. But I just chose to take this time, to allow my mind to wander a little.

This was a rather uneventful year for the Sohma family, especially for me. Nothing new had happened, nobody new had appeared, just my regular life. Although, to others, I suppose my life was eventful all the time.

Just when I was adjusting to the noise, when it had almost begun to comfort me instead of annoy me, just as I was drifting off, I was snapped back into attention by a wave of silence that had spread over the classroom. Looking up, I saw everyone, except for Uotani and Tohru, standing at the large glass windows, looking outside at the rain.

"What's going on?" I groaned to Uotani. She shrugged, and then she pushed her way through the crowd. I followed her, I wasn't about to be left out of whatever had caused an unsupervised high school class to be silent and line up in a row at the window.

Whispers started to wind their way amongst the students, and I only caught a few. "_Looks like that kid Mika finally showed up._" "_From 13B?_" "_She was gone for two months, what do you think happened?_"

Finally, when I reached the window, I couldn't see anything but the rain, that horrible weather that I despised. I growled in irritation. Why did it have to rain so much? But then, Uotani pointed to the sidewalk that led to the front of the school, and then, I saw something, something in the rain.

It was a girl; she couldn't have been any younger than Tohru or me. She was dressed in a black skirt, with a long coat, a black coat. Everything on the girl seemed to be black, but it wasn't strange or bad looking. She had pale skin, and the darkness of her clothes and long hair, that was braided down her back tightly, made it glow. And she just was standing there, in the rain. Her clothes and hair no doubt getting soaked, but she made no move to come inside. That is, until a teacher, our teacher, darted out and pulled her inside, before the girl in the rain had even a chance to move away.

Everyone looked at each other, and then everyone went back to whatever they had been doing before they had seen the girl in the rain, without a care. But I stood there, staring at the place that she had been, wondering. Before the teacher had come out to grab her, and lead her inside, she had looked up, directly at me. And I am not just saying that. Her eyes were unusual, not the regular dark brown color that was so popular. Instead, she had blue eyes; electric blue, with silver flecks scattered, and stared directly at me, just for a second, but it was noticeable to me.

And then, she was gone, led inside by our teacher.

I then went back to my desk, and sat down. I was still rather grumpy, and tired, the rain and all the noise were a little more than irritating now. I was about to get up and leave, go back to Shigure's house, and sleep all day, but the teacher chose that moment to burst in.

She was soaking, drenched in rain from head to toe, just from darting outside, and then back in after she retrieved the girl.

She sighed, looking around at everyone who was in disorder, and then she turned, gesturing for someone to come inside the room. I knew even before I saw them who it would be.

Still dressed in her wet clothing, she looked around the classroom, her expression portraying, almost irritation, and boredom. I knew that look; it was the look that meant that someone really didn't want to be here, I would know, I made that look many times before. Her blue eyes scanned around the room, looking casually at everyone.

"Class, this is Mika Ishikawa. She will be transferring to our class." The class gave a customary welcome, but the girl said nothing in return, but gave a sideways glare at the teacher, who didn't see it.

"You can sit next to Kyo Sohma." The teacher pointed to the empty desk in the back of the room, which always sat next to my desk.

Mika walked down the row of desks, and I noticed something, different about the way that she walked. It was cautious, not fearful, but light and careful. It was as if, she was trying to not tread too hard on the floor in case she set of a trap.

"Yo." I said, as she arrived at the desk next to mine.

"Yo." She said in return. Her voice was almost, cold. But not in a bad way, not in the cold, metal, unfeeling voice. Just, cold. She slid her coat off to reveal that it had been able to keep most of her clothes rather dry, and then she took her hair out of the braid, showing that only a little of it had gotten wet, the part that was exposed in the braid. It was a very smart way to get out of carrying an umbrella.

Putting her coat on the back of her chair, she sat down, and then started tracing patterns on her desk.

This was turning into an interesting day.


	2. Chapter 2

_This was turning into an interesting day._

_**Chapter Two- Kyo's Pov**_

I slumped my head against my desk, landing heavily on my folded arms. I was exhausted. The rain sucked all my energy out, draining me of all life, all consciousness, until I couldn't take it anymore. I was almost asleep when a bang about an inch from my ear made me sit straight up in my seat.

I looked up to see the teacher looking down at me, her eyebrows raised questioningly. "Long night Kyo?" I glared at her, looking at the text book she had slammed down on my desk. She rolled her eyes and turned away from me, snatching up her book.

"Now, as everyone knows, term paper time is here. I will be assigning you partners, as well as topics. No complaints, and if you're not with your friends, I have absolutely no pity for you. Alright, Hanajima will be with Momo when she comes back, Yuki is with Haki, Tohru is with Amaya, Chi is with Sayomi, Tora is with Yoi, Dai is with Kato, and Kyo is with Mika. Now everyone please send one person from each pair to get your topic from me." Before I could get up, Mika was already out of her seat, and heading gracefully to the front of the class to get our assignment from our teacher.

I was almost glad that I had been paired with her; maybe it wouldn't be so bad. I mean, this way not only do I get to find out more about this girl, but I had a strong hunch that we had the same beliefs about school.

"Our topic is the bombing of Hiroshima." She announced, sliding the slip of paper over to me, releasing it with her long pale fingers. I nodded in acknowledgment. Hiroshima was an interesting enough topic, although if I had a choice, I would've just skipped the entire assignment.

"When should we meet for research?" I asked. Mika looked at me. "We have to meet?"

I nodded. "That's usually what happens for term papers. Haven't you done one before?" She shrugged.

"Anyways, I'm busy from about midnight to five." She told me.

I looked at her. "With what?" I asked.

"Things that require a little more darkness than any other part of the day provide. But I can spare some time at about five in the morning until school time, or maybe I could slip in some time for you from the end of school to about seven. Would that work?" She asked.

I slowly nodded, still dwelling on the fact that she was actually up and doing something in the middle of the night. But then again, I was usually up in the middle of the night, having the spirit of the cat, and my life was probably a lot more abnormal than hers, so I couldn't really say anything without being a hypocrite.

"But we don't need that much time anyways; I already know pretty much everything about Hiroshima that we'll need." She sighed, leaning back in her seat nonchalantly.

I raised an eyebrow. "Fine, then what was the date of the bombing?" I asked. Not that I actually knew the answer either.

"August seventh, 1945, a Monday, then there was another bombing on the ninth, but that wasn't in Hiroshima." I stared at her.

"You have that memorized?" I questioned.

"Private tutor." She shrugged her explanation.

I raised my eyebrows, glancing at her. She was diffidently hiding something, I didn't even know anyone that had a private tutor, and I was from the Sohma family.

"So anyways." I started, hoping to get anything out of the girl, or else this was going to be a very awkward rest of the day.

"What?" She raised an eyebrow, irritated that I was still talking to her.

I didn't even know why I was bothering. If she was anything like me, she wasn't going to warm up anyone anytime quickly. And I was quite sure, that she was very much like me, but she was slightly more hidden.

"Alright, lunch time everyone. Please make sure that you set up a time to meet with your partners before you leave, or sometime today. Thank you." The teacher dismissed us.

"So tonight after school?" She questioned, pulling on her now dried coat.

I nodded. "Where do you want me to meet up with you?"

She shrugged. "How about your house? I can bring my laptop, it has internet." She suggested.

I nodded again. "Sure, my house is"

"It's that one in the woods, I've saw you when I walked past once." Mika then walked out of the classroom.

I pulled out my lunch bag, a plain brown bag, and removed the rice balls Tohru had just made this morning. They were packed full of fresh salmon, pink and delicious, perfect. Tohru had probably gotten it from the fish market yesterday morning. "So, who's the new girl?" Uotani asked.

I looked up to see the blonde looking at me, Tohru behind her, and Yuki next to Tohru. "What is this, an interrogation?"

Uo rolled her eyes. "No, we just want to know baka."

I shrugged. "Just some girl, her name's Mika, you know that. That's basically all that went on. Oh, she had a private tutor at some point in time, and she knows a lot about Hiroshima." I sighed somewhat sarcastically. All I wanted to do this lunch period was sleep; the rain was still coming down hard. Maybe I should just go home.

And it seems like someone else shared that idea.

"Where is she anyways?" Yuki asked.

I looked around for the black-clad girl, but saw nobody who matched her profile.

She was gone. I got up from the table, everyone's attention on a story that Uotani had begun telling. I walked over to the glass window that lined the lunch room.

And there, in the rain, I spotted a set of icy blue eyes, watching me from the darkness that dripped down from the sky. Then, they were gone, into the rain.


	3. Chapter 3

_And there, in the rain, I spotted a set of icy blue eyes, watching me from the darkness that dripped down from the sky. Then, they were gone, into the rain._

_**Chapter Three- Kyo's Pov**_

There was a gentle knock at the door. I looked up from where I was resting on the futon couch in the living room, recovering from the tiring rain. Luckily for me, it had stopped half way into the second half of school, but it had been a mentally and physically exhausting day none the less.

Mika hadn't returned back to school, or not that I saw. The last time that I had seen her, was outside in the rain, walking away. I didn't think this too odd, one, many people skipped school, including me, and two, she seemed like that type of person, who would skip school on a rainy day, the first day she had been back in two months.

So far, I hadn't been able to find out any more information about my paper partner, except for the fact that when she was here, she had often missed days, and she always had worn black. Some things never changed.

I sighed, getting up, and walked over the door, pulling it open.

Outside stood Mika. She had changed since school, now wearing a short black skirt, with black knee-high socks, and a black shirt. Her hair was put in two low pony tails, resting on her shoulders. And on her shoulder, she also hung a bag that had the outline of about two books inside of it.

In all honesty, after she disappeared from school, I hadn't expected her to show up. "Hey Kyo, I brought books. I also started on the notes, as well as citations. We should have this done by the end of the week." She gave me a light smile, after I wordlessly invited her in.

Her personality seemed, different. Not bored, cold, or dark, but a little more, relaxed. Perhaps it was the school atmosphere, or maybe it was just the personality she put up around other peers. I know I did that, so much that the two had almost become merged together.

"But it's due in three weeks." I reminded her, as we sat down around the table in the living room.

She pulled out the books, some papers, and a small laptop. "Well, I do have other things to do than school work, the more time I can get off the better for me. So, I have notes on the actual physical bombing, the after effects, the maidens of Hiroshima, the damages, the recovery, the fires, and the radiation poisoning. I don't think our paper needs to cover any more than that. Our thesis is "the after effect of an atomic bomb is even worse than the actual moment of the explosion"." She said, showing me a stack of notes I presumed she had taken.

"Did you go home just to work on this?" I asked, looking through the very detailed notes. It would've taken me forever just to do one page.

She shook her head. "No, I had to go home; my father wanted me to watch my little sister while he was having a meeting. Usually we have her tutor or her babysitter take care of her, but they were both busy. So the job automatically fell to me."

"I didn't know you had a sister." I commented.

Mika looked at me. "I didn't tell you." She stated simply, and then turned on her computer.

Shigure chose that moment to wander in, dressed in his kimono, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. When he finally could see, and register where he was, he noticed Mika. "Who's this Kyokyo? A girlfriend?" A teasing smile came over his face.

I groaned. "Shigure, go and eat something, and then retreat back into your study again."

Mika laughed. "You wouldn't happen to be Shigure Sohma would you?"

Shigure suddenly became interested. "Yes, I would be, why?"

"I've read your books that you write under the penname Haruo Matsubara. They're pretty good too." She smiled. Shigure smiled, but then he began to look a little puzzled.

"How did you know it was me? That was the whole purpose of a penname."

"My father hired her recently to edit his newest publication. She's a very, interesting, woman." Mika explained simply.

Shigure chuckled. "That she is. I am working on another story, why don't you take home a copy. Then, when you come over again, you can tell me what you thought?" She smiled and nodded.

The dog then bid us goodbye, and headed, of course, into the kitchen for a snack.

"Alright, we have all the notes together, now we just need to create an outline, and divide up the work." She instructed, and we both turned out attention to deciding when and how information that supported out thesis would be presented.

Mika wrote down the outline, and I noticed that she had excellent handwriting. Now, I'm not one to actually care about handwriting, but hers was pretty amazing. Everything was neat, ordered, and perfected. Perhaps that was another thing her _private tutor _had taught her.

Suddenly, an elbow jabbed my in the ribs. "Pay attention Kyo, I'm only going over this once. Got it?" Mika's pleasantly icy voice invaded my mind.

I shook my head to clear my thoughts, and then refocused on what was in front of me.

When we had finally finished, Mika packed everything up. "Okay, I'll see you in class tomorrow. Don't worry about doing anything tonight, I think I can get a lot done tonight, it's pretty quiet around the house." She said.

I nodded my consent, and then, with a final half smile, she was out the door, and into the night. I had never seen her actually smile throughout the night, at all. It was always that half smile, as if she wanted to smile, but couldn't bring something inside her to let her.

"Tsk tsk, you should've walked her home Kyokyo." Shigure said as he passed me.

"Don't call me Kyokyo you stupid dog!" I yelled after him.

**Author's Note: **I hope you liked it! Please, REVIEW! Me loves them! And also, I would love to hear all of your thoughts on Mika, I really would! Since spring break is right around the bend, I will get a lot more done during that time, so stick around! I am also planning, after this is done, to do a Harry Potter fanfic, tell me if you like that idea. Thanks and love all of you readers!

-Echo


	4. Chapter 4

"_Don't call me Kyokyo you stupid dog!" I yelled after him._

_**Chapter Four- Kyo's Pov**_

I sat heavily down at my desk, feeling tired for absolutely no reason. I guess that was just a reminder that I was in fact a teenage as well as a zodiac creature.

"Yo Kyo." I lifted my head off of my desk long enough to nod a greeting at Mika, who slid easily into the chair next to mine. She was wearing a black button down shirt, with white trim, a boy's shirt. And with that, she wore another short black skirt, but this time, she also wore a chain belt. To top it all off, she wore tall platform boots, much like Rin's.

I heard papers settle on my desk, right in front of me, and finally summoned enough energy to look up. It was about; maybe seven pages thick, put inside a cover sheet, and had a picture of what looked like a bomb explosion.

"What's that?" I questioned, looking over at Mika who was sitting back in her chair, looking bored.

"Hmm, oh, that. That's our term paper. Look over it; see if there's anything you want to change. If not, then we're set." She sighed, pulling out a sketchpad and pencil out of her new backpack, a messenger pack more like, made, of course, out of black canvas and littered with small and colorful pins.

I looked at her, wondering if I was still asleep. No, my unconscious mind wouldn't have gotten her blue eyes right, not as bright or electric as the girl in front of me. "How is that even possible?" I asked her.

She shrugged. "I didn't have to look after my sister last night, no tutor, no parents, or do really anything. And then, I found out how little I actually have any free time and therefore had no idea what to do. So I worked."

"You had the whole night to yourself, and you worked on a term paper?" My jaw dropped disbelievingly.

Mika nodded somewhat reluctantly. I shook my head. "That's just sad." I said.

"Well, I got it done, so not only do we have all of class period to sleep or do other class work, we have all of after school to do whatever we need to do." She shot back, defending her somewhat nerdish behavior. Although, it was quite clear to me, that Mika was _not _a nerd.

"Quiet down class. I would like to hear your progress report on your term paper research." The teacher said, and everyone went around and announced that they were in the middle of general research, or some just on the process of creating their thesis.

When it came to our group, the teacher asked Mika to tell her how far we both were.

"Done." The blue eyed girl stated.

"With your thesis and research?" The teacher asked unbelievingly.

Ha, she thought that was a shocker, just wait until Mika answered.

"No, done with everything." Mika responded, a small hint of boredom leaking into her voice.

The classroom became dead silent.

"You expect me to believe that you wrote a term paper in one night Ms. Ishikawa, I'm insulted." The teacher glared over to Mika from the front of the class.

With one swift and precise movement, Mika grabbed the term paper from my desk, and tossed it, like a Frisbee, towards the front of the class. It landed perfectly in the center of the teacher's desk.

Mika returned the glare. "And I am too insulted that you would think that I would lie to you about something so insignificant as a term paper, or that you would even be able to tell if I lied or not."

They continued to glare at each other until, finally, the teacher reached for the paper, and flipped through it. As her eyes widened, it brought a smirk to her black-clad student's face.

"I apologize Ms. Ishikawa, it seems you and Kyo have indeed finished your term paper." That extracted gasps of shock from the class.

But Mika just nodded reluctantly, and then leaned back in her chair, closing her eyes contentedly.

After class, a very long and boring class, was over, and we were dismissed to lunch, I managed to catch up with Mika.

"What'cha want Kyo?" She asked me casually, leaning up against a tree in the lunch yard, pulling a small sandwich out of her pack.

"Nothing." I responded, sitting down next to her, pulling out a rice ball that Tohru had packed.

She looked over at me, but then shrugged, and began to eat. Her long black hair whipped around her face, reminding me of Rin. I wondered if they would be friends. But then again, why in the world would they ever meet.

"So how did you do that?" I asked, referring to the writing of the term paper.

She shrugged again. "I've been pretty good at writing. Besides, I got a lot of practice earlier on in my life than most."

I didn't ask any more questions after that, we just sat there, eating lunch.


	5. Chapter 5

_I didn't ask any more questions after that, we just sat there, eating lunch._

_**Chapter Five- Mika's Pov**_

I climbed into my bed as the sun was still out, almost setting. I was late going to sleep this night. As the silk black sheets caressed my pale skin that was exposed underneath my black nightgown, I was gently lulled into the dreamland that I had come to both love and to fear.

"_Mika!" I heard a deep voice yell. I could already tell this was going to be one of _those _dreams, the ones that had me weak up in sweat, that brought tears running down my cheeks, that made me remember everything I had always tried so hard to put behind me._

_I looked up from the place where I had been sitting, reading a hardback book, black with delicate gold lettering. I was working on the Odyssey, which was giving me a little bit of trouble, mainly because of the fact it was written in a more ancient Greek than I had ever seen before. But still, I was managing. I had always managed._

"_Mika!" The yell came again, and I quickly darted towards it, jumping down a flight of stairs in one extraordinarily graceful leap. Even when I was thirteen I could perform leaps like this, and now that I am seventeen, I have mastered it._

_I landed at the feet of a tall man, who was wearing his usual black suit, his black hair combed carefully into spikes, not a hair or piece of cloth was out of place. That was the normal appearance of my father. His black beady eyes glared down at me._

"_I called you twice." He calmly stated._

_I looked down._

_Then I felt the sharp pain that was left soon after his hand hit my face harshly. "Never make me call you more than once again. Do you understand me?"_

_I nodded._

"_That's my good little girl. Now, I want to introduce you to a couple business associates of mine. Be on your best behavior." And then my father led me to the living room. Whenever his associates were over, I automatically was on my best behavior, everyone was. We didn't need to be told that._

"_Gentlemen, meet my daughter, Mika." I was standing next to my father in the living room, which was filled with five men, all appearing much like my father, black suits, and perfect hair. And most importantly, cold eyes, cold eyes that I had seen so much in my life. Cold eyes, I'm sure, that I had inherited. I had seen these men before, glimpses of them, so I knew that they were regular associates for my father, not just quick business._

"_Mika, go and get us some bean cakes, now." My father asked, but I could tell by the added word it was an order. And an order from my father was never to be disobeyed._

_I hurried into the kitchen where a maid presented me with a plate of red bean cakes; she already had them prepared for me. "Thank you." I smiled._

_She smiled in return. Her name was Yato, she had been my closest friend in this full but empty house much of my life. "Just be careful."_

_I nodded, and then brought back the plate of food, placing it on the table with a bow, and then retreating to the corner that I always stood in when we had guests, next to my father's large chair._

"_Now, as you all know, ever since my wife passed away this year, my daughter and I have been managing, but not as well as I had hoped, especially with the baby. I am then happy to announce that I shall be getting re-married to Yamatuo Figura. The wedding takes place on October 17__th__, so in honor of the occasion, all business of ours will cease, and all employees will be in attendance. Is that understood?" My father looked around the rooms, searching for anyone who would question him._

_But not even I could do that. My mother had died in January of an illness that had plagued her much of her life, and we, meaning me and her, had been prepared for the moment. As I said before, I managed, and I have always managed._

"_Alright then, meeting dismissed. I will be in touch with times of the wedding. We shall be meeting once again two weeks from now, at the same exact time." All the men nodded as they got up, and each walked past me, and out the door. It was so ordered, the men knew exactly who the boss was, and that was my father._

_I looked at him as he got up and turned to face me. "And why did it take you so long to get the bean cakes may I ask?" The dangerous undertone was clearly evident._

"_I'm sorry father, I" I started, but was cut off by a sharper pain on my cheek than before._

"_I don't like to be kept waiting Mika!" He yelled, slapping me once again._

_I nodded. "I apologize father. It shall not happen again." I lowered my head._

_He yanked my eyes up to his by my hair, causing a different type of pain than the slap had. "It better not."_

_And then, he disappeared._

_After recovering, I quickly darted back upstairs, pausing momentarily to peek inside my little sister's room, into her crib._

_She had been born in December, only a month before my mother's death._

_I gently stroked her soft hair that was growing at a surprising rate on her small head. Her eyes snapped open, blue looking into blue. It would've been strange to any outsiders, that our eye color was the same, the shocking blue, but neither our mother nor our father had blue eyes. Nobody did._

_I smiled at her, and then retreated into my own room. Sighing, I collapsed onto my bed, and smiled as I felt the gentle paws of my cat, Momo, knead into my stomach. I stroked his black fur, extracting a purr from him, and his blue eyes closed in happiness._

_Momo and my little sister were all that I had now. They were everything to me. And they would be everything, forever._

Suddenly, I was pulled out of my dream by a deep voice calling "Mika!"


	6. Chapter 6

_Suddenly, I was pulled out of my dream by a deep voice calling "Mika!"_

_**Chapter Six- Kyo's Pov**_

"Milk, bean cakes, fish, what else do we need?" I asked myself; looking down at the shopping list I had been given. Yes, shopping list. I was spending my Saturday morning, shopping. Shopping was not something that I did. Ever. It was Tohru, Yuki, or Shigure's job. Not mine.

Inari was listed next, so I went to the wall refrigerator to get some of the rice stuffed bean curd. It's a lot better than it sounds.

"Kyo? What are you doing here?" I turned to see a black haired blue eyed girl standing behind me.

Mika. She was dressed in a black lace dress, with high heeled black boots, and a black cloak hanging off her shoulders. In her arms, she held a small bag, black of course, filled with groceries. Her black hair was loose falling down gracefully.

"Doing the shopping. You?" I asked.

"Same, I had to get out of the house somehow. Besides, my little sister wanted to go out anyways." Mika explained, grabbing a pack of inari out of the fridge. I guess we had the same tastes. She also grabbed two cans of soda, no doubt for her and her sister.

"Where's your sister anyways?" I questioned, glancing around. There was nobody else in view.

Mika shrugged. "Probably just running around on the other side of the store." Seeing my questioning look she added. "Don't worry, she's not literally running."

I nodded, and then went back to grabbing another pack of inari, and then we both headed for the cash register. After both of our sacks were paid for, we headed for the door.

"Come on!" Mika yelled before we left the door, and soon, a small figure appeared next to us.

It was a girl, about twelve years old, and resembled her sister in almost every way. She was clad in all black, wearing a similar but slightly longer black dress, and instead of high heeled boots, she wore ballet flats. But her skin was the same pale color, her hair was the same length and dark color, and her eyes were also the same, the electric shocking blue. The girl quickly slipped her hand into her older sisters, and we proceeded down the street.

"Kyo, meet Sayomi, Sayomi, meet Kyo." Mika said.

Sayomi smiled up widely at me. Another difference between her and her sister. Mika never smiled, but that seemed to be all the smaller girl did, smile.

"Hello Kyo, my sister has told me _a lot _about you." She winked.

"Oh shut up Sasa." Mika growled, ruffling her sister's hair.

"She has?" I questioned.

Mika rolled her eyes. "Great, he's never going to let that one go, I think you just inflated his ego ten times the already large amount. What my _little _sister meant, was that I told her we were working together."

Sayomi shook her head at me, mouthing the work "no". I had to give a small chuckle. It was pretty amusing to see how these two together. They were the exact example of siblings.

"Hey, we're going to the park, want to tag along?" Mika asked me.

I shrugged. It was a lot better than heading back to the boring house.

Sayomi happily skipped along in front of us, her black dress always standing out so we could never lose her.

When we reached the park, Mika's sister sat down on the bench, and Mika tossed her one of the sodas, which the girl caught with ease. I guess it runs in the family.

Then Mika sat next to her sister, and I sat next to Mika. We talked, about nothing really, Mika and Sayomi getting into arguments, each of them teasing the other, Sayomi teasing me periodically, just to see how far she could push me.

In other words, I was having the time of my life.

As soon as Sayomi caught sight of the ice cream vendor who was strolling through the park, pushing his cart around pretty early in the year for some odd reason, she leapt up and darted towards the man, pulling out a wad of cash from her pocket in her dress.

My eyes widened. How was a kid as old as her to have that much cash?

Sayomi came back balancing three ice cream cones in her hands. "Here you go, here you go, and here I go." She said, handing out the treat.

I thanked her, and savored the vanilla flavor. She had gotten vanilla for Mika and I, and for herself as well. "You like vanilla too Kyokyo?" She questioned happily.

I was tempted to speak out against the nickname, but I refrained, answering with a simple nod.

We stayed in the park much of the day, before I decided to head home before the groceries got too warm. I bid them goodbye, and headed home, happy for the first time in a long while.


	7. Chapter 7

_We stayed in the park much of the day, before I decided to head home before the groceries got too warm. I bid them goodbye, and headed home, happy for the first time in a long while._

_**Chapter Seven- Kyo's Pov**_

The next few months went by uneventfully. Nothing new happened in school, after the term papers passed, we moved on to studying current events. Nothing new at home happened, Shigure was still the same lazy perverted dog, Yuki was still the annoying rat, and Tohru was still whatever Tohru was. The only thing that really had changed was that Mika and her sister, Sayomi, had been coming over often, Mika more often than her sister, who was still being tutored at their home. Mika and I almost had, a friendship. We watched movies together, usually anime movies that involved fighting and most of the time, ninjas or samurai. Those were things that Mika loved ninjas more than samurais though, as did I.

Over the course of time, I learned that we had more than just the same taste in movies in common. I had been fighting with Yuki one day, just the normal, usual fight. Mika was watching from her place in the living room, Shigure was yelling at us from his office not to destroy the house, and Tohru was begging us to stop. It was actually one of my best fights yet, I got the upper hand over Yuki, well, almost got the upper hand. He still won, of course.

But after the fight, I sat back down with Mika, and she asked me who had taught me. I answered her, and she nodded. _"I've heard of him, my father knows him. I don't think they get along very well though."_ She commented.

"_Your father seems to know everyone." _I said. She shrugged. _"He does. But he should actually know all the martial art masters, he's one himself. He taught me, and then my sister."_

Inside, I lit up. _"You'll have to show me your moves one of these days."_ I smiled slightly.

She nodded in agreement. _"Yeah, I will."_

Over the course of knowing her, I had discovered that she wasn't as cold, or as humorless as she may seem to others. Although she rarely smiled, she was happy. Although she wouldn't laugh at much, she would laugh at what mattered. She wasn't someone who would make you feel good even if you messed up, try to say it was alright, she would be honest, brutally so sometimes. But at least she wouldn't lie.

Other than that, it had been a pretty normal few months. And now, it was that time of the year, that great time of year, that we were already a week into. Summer break.

"Hey Kyokyo, time to wake up!" I heard a singing voice pull me out of my sleep.

I tried to turn over and pull the pillow over my head, but it was just ripped right out of my hands. "Up up, Tohru made some rice balls for lunch!"

Lunch?

I opened my eyes, seeing Shigure's black eyes right in front of me, causing me to jump and fall out of my bed. "Ugh, idiot dog!" I growled.

Slowly, I crawled out of my room, stumbled down the stairs, and into the kitchen, grabbing my carton of milk, and then sit down at the table. "Are Mika and Sayomi stopping by today?" Tohru asked, sitting down herself.

I shrugged. "How am I supposed to know? Those two have their own damn schedule."

"True enough." Shigure laughed, and then dug into the food.

After lunch, I retreated to my most visited spot recently. The roof. It was where I spent all of my day when I wasn't needed anywhere else, or when Mika wasn't here.

And that is where I slept, soaking up the sun beams, until dinner.

"Kyo! Dinner time!" I heard Tohru's voice call from the kitchen. I yawned, and jumped down with catlike ease.

It was inari tonight. Good.

"Mika didn't come over today. Strange, she usually stops by every day." Yuki commented, taking careful bites of his food. In the back of my mind, I had been wondering where she was.

"Maybe she got caught up at home; she does sometimes have to take care of her sister." Shigure suggested.

"But then why wouldn't she just bring Sayomi over here?" I asked.

The dog shrugged in defeat. "Maybe she just needed to do something."

We accepted that, mainly because we really had nothing else to go on.

After dinner, I retreated up to my room, to do absolutely nothing. Well, maybe there was, no, actually, there was nothing for me to do. That's the downside, and the upside to summer, there's nothing to do. Ever.

I sighed and fell back onto my bed, thinking.

And of course, my thoughts automatically wandered back to Mika and her little sister. I wondered what they were doing, how they were doing. I hoped they were alright. I really was worried, more than I wanted anyone else to know. I just got a strange feeling, a hidden feeling, from Mika, more than her sister. And I couldn't figure out what that was. But it made me nervous, because I could tell that it was important.

It was a hidden feeling, a dark feeling, it was the thing that formed that icy tone and look to Mika. Perhaps it was the reason she wore so much black.

Suddenly, a loud crack made me shoot out of my bed.

Darting downstairs, I met up with Shigure, Yuki, and Tohru as well.

"What's going on?" I growled.

"I don't know, that noise came from outside. Tohru, you stay inside. Let's go." Shigure ordered, pushing the door open.

The three of us went into the night, a dark night. The moon was gone, a new moon, so the only light we had were the stars.

To my right, I thought I saw something, something white. "Guys, that way!" I called, and chased after the white thing.

And all of the sudden, my face met the ground.

I had tripped over a very newly fallen tree, its bark splintered in two. "Are you alright cat?" Yuki pulled me up. I growled at him.

"What happened here?" Shigure investigated the split trunk.

I saw a flash of white once again. "Come on!" I called, darting once again after the figure.

We all chased the white through the trees, until we lost it. It just, disappeared, leaving us in the middle of a meadow.

"Damn, there it goes." I growled. Yuki was panting, and I was almost worried that he was going to have an asthma attack, but then again, not really. Shigure was not so tired, but he looked nervous, dogs don't exactly like running after something in the middle of the night.

But I did, so it didn't really matter.

And then, I caught a whiff of something, a rusty scent. I followed the smell, and came up to a small, wet patch of grass. Looking closer with my red eyes which were able to see perfectly in the dark.

What I found shocked me. The once green grass had been dyed a horribly dark red, blood. Someone, or something, had been hurt. Badly.

Shigure and Yuki saw it too. Luckily, Shigure, being the dog, had a good sense of smell, and picked up a trail.

It was a stream of red that wound through the trees, at a painfully slow and pooling pace. It looked like whatever was hurt, was struggling to get away from something.

And then, the trail stopped, in the middle of the forest, in front of a tall tree. Well, it didn't really stop, but it went, up. The blood was dripping down the tall brown trunk of the tree.

Yuki turned away, the sight being too much for the wimpy rat. But I could almost understand. It was a lot of blood.

Without thinking, I leapt up the tree, something that I had discovered I could easily do, a gift from the zodiac spirit inside of me.

Then, the blood trail ended. And lying on the branch, a couple feet away from me, there was a body.

_**Author's Note: **_Sorry if you don't like this chapter, I'm really sick right now, and when I don't feel well my mind gets a bit morbid. But wait until you see the next chapter! Tell me what you think is in the tree, and where you think Mika and her sister are in the reviews! REVIEW!


	8. Chapter 8

_Then, the blood trail ended. And lying on the branch, a couple feet away from me, there was a body._

_**Chapter Eight- Kyo's Pov**_

Lying there, motionless, in the tree, her pale arms hanging limply down towards the ground that was many, many feet below her, was Mika. Her black hair was slightly curled, in gentle waves, falling downward in the same direction and way as her limbs. She was dressed in black, of course, but it was, almost a different black, a shimmering black, it almost made her invisible in the night. If it wasn't for her pale skin, she would be just another part of the night.

That and the red that was running down the slightly upward reaching branch she was collapsed on. Looking closer, I discovered that the clothes were shredded, and so probably was her skin, shredded. Mika was losing a lot of blood. I had to do something.

"Shigure, it's Mika!" I yelled down.

Silence, and then suddenly, Shigure was right next to me. "How the hell did you do that?" I jumped in surprise.

Shigure shrugged, and soon, Yuki was up in the tree too, luckily on a separate branch, or else we would've been in a lot more trouble than we already were.

"Let's just grab her and go down, come on!" I said, moving towards her, but the Shigure stopped me.

"Carrying her down, to do that, we would have to hug her, and then poof, a cat and a dog would be in a tree with a bleeding girl weighing them down." But before that registered, I had already grabbed her.

_Oh crap._ Those were the only words that registered in my mind.

And second now I would go poof.

Any second now.

Any second.

Any, what the hell?

I looked down at myself. My arms were wrapped tightly around Mika's body, my _arms, _not paws, _arms, _human arms.

I looked over at Shigure and Yuki, who merely sat perched on their branches, looking as amazed as I was.

"Come on, help me out here!" I yelled at the rat and dog as I felt wetness seep through my shirt.

They hurriedly darted over, and in no time at all, we were on the ground, Mika in our arms. I lifted her onto my back, ignoring the blood that was filtering through my fabric covered back, and onto my skin.

The rest passed in a blur, shapes that I saw of trees and bushes while I ran towards the direction of the house, the lights that Tohru had kindly left on for us, the shocked expression the girl had when I darted inside with the girl on my back.

Time only slowed down when I was able to lay her on my bed, and Yuki came in carrying towels.

"Shigure's calling Hatori." The rat said, helping me in a feeble attempt to soak up the blood that was pouring out of the girl's body.

I nodded, not taking my eyes of Mika for a second. Her face was getting paler, deathly pale. Oh god, what if she died, she couldn't die. Not today, not tonight, not ever. She was Mika; she wasn't supposed to be hurt. She was the strong, cold, distant person that I met on the first day of school, she wasn't the victim.

"Tori will be here in a few minutes, we need to stop the bleeding in any way possible." Shigure quickly entered the room, joining us next to the girl.

We nodded, and kept applying towels.

Blood, blood, more blood, and blood soaked towels. I never knew that one small girl could have so much blood inside of her.

And once again, I lapsed into a daze, taking a towel, soaking up the blood, taking it off, replacing the towel, soaking up the blood, removing it, replacing. It went on again, and again, and again, for what seemed like days, and weeks, instead of five minutes.

"Kyo, move aside." I heard Hatori's voice invade my daze; I felt his hand on my shoulder. I stepped back, automatically. Any other time, I would've objected, but this time, I was obedient.

And then, I waited.

**Author's Note: **I'm sorry this is so short, I'm really sick, I get sick a lot, sorta like Akito. But I'm not, hopefully, going to die at thirty. But I will be writing a longer chapter tomorrow, I promise. Thank you, and please REVIEW! Tell me why you think Mika was in the tree? Why didn't Kyo, Shigure, or Yuki change when they carried her?


	9. Chapter 9

"_Kyo, move aside." I heard Hatori's voice invade my daze; I felt his hand on my shoulder. I stepped back, automatically. Any other time, I would've objected, but this time, I was obedient._

_And then, I waited._

_**Chapter Nine- Kyo's Pov**_

I sat next to the bed as Hatori quickly worked over the bed, just waiting, waiting, waiting. There wasn't anything that I could do. Blood was still emerging from the small girl's body, but it was now slowing to a trickle. Hopefully, it would stop all together in time.

Hatori was giving orders to Shigure, get some scissors, for cutting off Mika's clothes, some gauze to bandage it up, everything. When the doctor was able to actually remove the black fabric that was when I saw the extent of the girl's injuries.

Her skin, like her clothes, had been completely shredded, mainly around her stomach and side area. But they weren't thin and straight, like a knife would make, no, they were deep, wide, and ripping, like claws. Mika had a lot to explain when she got better, if she got better.

"She's losing too much blood, Shigure, go down to my car, I have some blood there. Get the bag labeled AB negative." He ordered as he glanced at a small sample of blood he had taken from Mika, and then added coloring to, no doubt to discover what type of blood the girl had. The dog nodded automatically, and darted down the stairs.

"Yuki, will you get me some more gauze?" Yuki nodded, and he too rushed away.

I looked up, but Hatori shook his head. "Rest Kyo, you look a little too worried. All you need to do is sit by her, make sure she's alright."

I nodded tiredly; it had been a long day, and an even longer night.

At one point I must've dozed off, because when I was shaken awake, it was light outside. Hatori was standing over me, and gestured for me to get up. I did so, and then looked over at the bed. The sheets had been changed, now clean white ones replaced the bloodied ones. Clean white gauze was wrapped around Mika's stomach, and she appeared to be in less pain than she had been, and was sleeping rather peacefully.

"I have to go; I left directions on how to care for her with Shigure. You can do that." Hatori instructed, and then, he was gone.

I sat down on the corner of my bed lightly, as to not disturb the resting Mika. And then, I just watched her. I watched the gentle rise of her chest, studied the way her hair fanned out of the pillow, watched the way her face seemed so peaceful, and how pale her skin still looked.

But somehow, worry didn't even cross my mind, I couldn't let it. Her face just told me; somehow, it would be alright. I didn't need to worry about Mika, she would be alright. I only wish I could learn more about her.

She had obviously been hiding quite a lot from me.

First, why hadn't I changed when I grabbed her? That only happened with other zodiacs, and Mika was not one of them.

Two, why was she in the tree, bleeding to death, in the first place? What had hurt her, why did she pick that place to hide, or was she perhaps left there?

Three, who was she? A simple question, but I was sure there was going to be a complicated answer. But that was something I was willing to accept, willing to listen to.

**Author's Note: **I promise a longer chapter tomorrow, I'm pretty sick still, and it's taking its toll. But I promise, I will make up for it tomorrow with a big surprise chapter, you'll love it! REVIEW: tell me what you think the answers are to Kyo's three questions.


	10. Chapter 10

_Three, who was she? A simple question, but I was sure there was going to be a complicated answer. But that was something I was willing to accept, willing to listen to._

_**Chapter Ten- Mika's Pov**_

_Pain, pain, excruciating pain. Even in my dreamland the pain invaded. But then, I was separated from the pain, I floated away from the mangled body that felt the horrible emotion; I left that useless thing behind. Instead, I was something else, I was free, finally._

_Instead of being inside the cage my body created, I looked down, outside the bars. I looked down at myself, a crumpled girl in the middle of darkness, nothing around her, nothing underneath her or over her. She was all alone, in an empty, dark world._

_So dark, so alone, so much nothingness._

_Then, my sight blurred, and the scene switched, and once again I was looking down at a crumpled form, but this was something I remembered many years back._

"_Come on, we have to go." My voice came, directed around the crumpled form. Suddenly, my body entered the limited view that my disconnected dream self could view. "Come on! They'll be back any moment, especially because it's her."_

_My black cloak blew back in the harsh wind that blew past me. Pinned to the soft fabric was a crest, a black cat in a silver background. My symbol, our symbol._

"_Relax Mikahime. Since when do they ever come around here?" Another cloak clad figure joined me, looking down at the crumpled figure, who I now realized was wearing a grey blue cloak. I knew this scene well, it had haunted me, reminded me of everything that was wrong with me, with my world._

_My cloak clad body rolled her eyes. "Well obviously they do, or they did, otherwise how would an idiotic girl like this one appear? Found her own way? Ha, yeah right. We need to move out." I ordered, turning._

"_But imagine what we could learn from her, can we keep her?" And another black clad girl came up next to me. I watched as two others emerged, surrounding the girl, a ring of black._

"_I suppose so, but father can't know." The memory of my old self sighed._

_The black figures seemed to change from bored to excited. But yet, I could still feel the nervousness that echoed off of me._

_Something was wrong; I could sense it then and now. It was like pressure, gradually building and building, and then, it burst. That's when I yelled "Everyone run!"_

_The black cloaks disappeared into the wind, trained legs carrying us fast, and just in time, as we heard a lethal sounding snap from behind us. But none of us girls stopped to discover what made the sound. It had been a trap. Of course it had._

_I ran faster than all of them, I was just naturally more practiced than any of the others. But I could hear their quite breathing from directly behind me, the even breath pace that never once faltered, no matter how hard or how fast we ran._

_We soon emerged out of the woods we had been in, and into the city. But that didn't slow us down in the slightest. Although we did catch many odd glances thrown our way, we knew that none would bother us, they knew better than to do that._

_We ran and ran, until we finally reached an all too familiar house. My home. We then raced up the garden, and to our quarters, where we finally stopped. The grey cloaked ones couldn't reach us here. We all knew that._

"_Let's never do that again." One of the figures advised, slipping off her cloak and hanging it on one of the many pegs next to the door, as did the others. We all resembled each other, pale skin, long dark hair, cold beauty, and finally, and most importantly, we all had blue eyes, electric blue eyes, that shone even on the darkest nights. They remained bright, providing us any and all light we needed in the dark that the dim hours bestowed upon the world. We never needed anything, just ourselves, and the others of our kind._

_I nodded in agreement. "I second that movement. Now, let's get some sleep, it's going to be a long night tomorrow." I suggested as I noticed the light that was creeping into our quarters._

_We all nodded, and then the shortest of the formerly cloaked figures got up, and pulled the doors closed. She then walked over to me, and lay down beside me, nestling into my stomach._

"_Goodnight big sister." She whispered to me._

"_Goodnight little sister." I responded, and then we fell asleep._

**Author's Note: **Oo, REVIEW QUESTION: WHO ARE THE CLOAKED FIGURES (BOTH BLACK AND GREY?) and an IMPORTANT NOTE: I will be on the road tomorrow and the day after that, but I will have wifi hopefully at a few of the hotels (heading to California for spring break). Good news is that I feel a lot better, and will be able to write a _ton _in the car. So be prepared for a lot of chapters! REVIEW! Me loves them!


	11. Chapter 11

_"Goodnight little sister." I responded, and then we fell asleep._

_**Chapter Eleven- Kyo's Pov**_

__Mika's face remained unchanged, unexpressive, neither peaceful nor the opposite, just, unresponsive. And it scared me, it was as if her soul had gotten up and left her damaged body behind, and journeyed off into the other side, leaving me behind.

I could almost see it happening, so much that every five minutes I had to put my ear to her heart, and even more often I would look down and make sure that her breathing continued, no matter how shallowly.

Eventually, I got up and grabbed the IV that Hatori had told me to use, to hook up to her pale arm after he had gone. Shigure and Yuki were downstairs, doing something or other, I didn't care. All I cared about was lying on the bed in front of me, dying.

Even though Hatori had promised me that she was getting better, I could actually feel the doubt in his voice. I could see the glances he threw her way, pity, she was dying. And she would die, if she didn't hold on. If her soul never returned, she would just be gone, forever.

I had to admit, I had never cared this much before. Mika was bringing something out in me that I never thought I'd have, caring. I was Kyo, the cat, the banished one, the outcast, the rebel, and yet, she made me feel like I belonged. And now, the one person that made me feel that way was almost dead.

"Here Kyo, I made you some salmon." Tohru's nervous voice came from outside the paper door. I didn't make a move to open it, nor greet the girl after she let herself in. I didn't move towards the plate of fish that she set down next to me, or when she too sat down, concerned about me.

"Are you alright Kyo? You need to eat something." Tohru attempted, but she was met by my glare, before I returned my fiery eyes back to the still unresponsive girl.

The girl beside me sighed, and then left, for once she was willing to let me be alone, to recover by myself, the way I enjoyed it. I pushed the fish aside, and then proceeded to tap my foot on the floor, signaling to Shigure who was downstairs in the room below that it was time to come up and help me change Mika's bandages.

The dog and I worked quickly, but very carefully. We lifted Mika's back high enough to just be able to slip off the bandages that were becoming stained with a little bit of blood that was still persistently soaking through the girl's skin.

Then, we wrapped new white bandages around her waist, covering the ugly slashes that decorated her torso, and then Shigure once again retreated downstairs, throwing out the dirty bandages in the trash on his way.

And then, I returned to the side of the bed, just waiting for anything to happen, and while I was waiting, I fell asleep.

_I was still in the room, right next to the bed, but this time, Mika looked different, just slightly. I looked closer, and discovered that she wasn't panting out her breaths anymore. She wasn't breathing at all. Panicked, I rushed towards her, and tried to hear her weak heartbeat, but all I heard was emptiness. Mika was gone._

_ "Hello Kyo, what are you doing here?" I heard a voice ask from behind me._

_ I turned, remembering the voice so well, and came face to face with beautiful icy blue eyes, with long black hair, with pale skin, with Mika._

_ "Mika, how, but you're" I gestured to the bed._

_ She shrugged and nodded. "Yes, that is my former body. But I'm much happier this way, away from that thing, and now you're here too!" The smile that I had never seen appeared on Mika's face._

_ "You want to be this way? You want to be dead, gone?" I questioned._

_ She sighed and walked over to the bed, looking down. "I don't want to be dead, I don't want to be gone, I only want to be free. I want to run far away, I want to be able to escape. In this form, I can float around, go wherever I want, not have a care in the world, not having to. I can be finally happy. I've never been truly happy even once in my life. This is my chance; I've been waiting for this. And now that I'm finally here, I'm never going back. Besides, what reason do I have to go back?"_

_ I looked down at the abandoned body as well. "Is this really what's going to happen?"_

_ "Soon enough, I'd give myself a day or less, then I'm out of here, and onto my next world." Mika said, predicting her own death, calmly. She really did want this._

_ "I can give you a reason to go back." I said, looking back at the other Mika._

_ She raised her eyebrow._

_ "People need you, your sister needs you, I need you."_

_ Mika looked a little stunned. "You need me?"_

_ I walked over to her and gently put my arms around her shoulders, pulling her into me. She went ridged, but then relaxed, awkwardly, as if she had never been hugged before. Perhaps she hadn't._

_ And then, her timid hands reached up and pulled me even closer to her, and we stood there, in a world that was neither life nor death, neither reality nor imagined. But the tears that ran down my cheeks, the tears that were pooling in hers, were real._

_ When she pulled back, I studied her, looking down at her beautiful and pale features. She was so perfect, so amazing, not just in her looks, but in her heart. And that's when I knew, I didn't just need her, I loved her._

_ "I love you Mika." I whispered._

_ She looked up at me, looking into my eyes, blue in red, and then, another smile ghosted her lips. "I love you too Kyo."_

_ And then, our lips met, gently, carefully, but still all of our emotions poured into it. Our love, our pain, our suffering, our happiness, all combined into one simple action._

_ But then, we were pulled apart, by some unknown force, so strong, too strong. It was happening, she was dying. I could see her being pulled away, pulled away from me, from life, from reality._

_ I could see the battle that was going on in Mika's head, her eyes darted behind her, to a new life, an afterlife, death, freedom, and then to me. She had to choose between life and death._

_ And suddenly, the pull faltered, and then stopped, and Mika stepped towards me once again, whispering to me. "Please, just a little longer. I promise, I shall return to you."_


	12. Chapter 12

_And suddenly, the pull faltered, and then stopped, and Mika stepped towards me once again, whispering to me. "Please, just a little longer. I promise, I shall return to you."_

_**Chapter Twelve- Kyo's Pov**_

"_Just a little longer." _Her words echoed in my ears.

My eyes fluttered open, and, remembering my dream, I looked over at Mika. But then, I could see, it wasn't Mika, not in the sense that I remembered her. It was in reality her, but she wasn't, there. I let my hand wander up to her stomach, to try to feel any hint of a breath, any hint of a movement, but before my hand even touched her bandaged skin, I knew that I would feel the breath.

Yet still, Mika's body remained empty. Mika was spending more time wherever she had been, wherever she was.

With this stored in my mind, I got up, and took the plate of salmon, and climbed up to the roof. I knew that waiting for the girl to wake up would be useless, she would be gone for longer than I would be gone.

I ate the pink tinted fish as I looked out over the now dimming property of the Sohma family. This was the world I lived in, and I realized, looking out, that it was much, much more peaceful than I had ever realized it was. For some reason, Mika _wanted _to stay in that place that I visited her in, that place where I found her in my dreams, because she wanted to be freed. She wanted to be dead, and before I got there, she was fully intending to die. And then, I was able to change that, I was able to let her grasp onto something in this world.

And yet another question was added to the list of questions that covered Mika, what made her want to stay there?

"Kyo, where are you?" I heard Shigure call, from beneath me, long after I had finished my fish. Sighing, I leapt down, and found the dog inside my room, ready to change her bandages.

"Where were you?" He asked as we proceeded to keep her injured area clean.

"Waiting." I glared at him, ending the conversation.

After we finished with the wrappings, Shigure spoke again. "I'm going to bring you up a futon, so you can sleep tonight."

Before I could say anything, the inu had disappeared.

And soon enough, I was lying on a small bed, right next to Mika's, my old one, and one the verge of sleep. All I could think about was that hopefully, I would be with Mika again soon, in both this world, and limbo.

_I emerged not into my room as I did last time, but into a lush green meadow. I was barefoot, and my feet gently sunk into the soft, but not wet, ground. The short soft grass waved in the wind, the wind that wove through long black hair, blowing it back, making it create a dark cloud around the face it belonged to._

_It was Mika, of course, but she looked so different. She was still the same age, the same height, still had the same pale complexion. She turned her head towards me, her blue eyes becoming even lighter, glowing._

_And then I realized what was so different. She was wearing a long white dress, a thin dress that flowed gently in the breeze with her hair. And then, she wore a blue gauzy scarf over her head, which also flowed backwards in the blowing air._

_She ran towards me, and easily leapt up and landed in my arms. I smiled, and held her up. When Mika finally got down, she pulled me through the meadow, without speaking, until we reached the far side of the meadow._

_I almost asked where we were going as we entered the green and moist forest, but I wasn't going to ruin the happy silence that had been created around us._

_Mika looked back past her shoulder, and back to me, a large smile spread across her face, like a little child, excited to show someone a surprise. I wish that I could see this person every day, in the real world, not here, in this place of balance._

_And just as suddenly as we had entered the forest, we reemerged into a different setting. It still had the same soft dirt, and the same soft coating grass, but nestled in the far corners, was a rushing water fall that led into a peaceful deep aqua pond, with pure white sand skirting around the very edges._

"_What do you think?" Mika smiled, stopping just where the grass merged into the sand. In the pond, three rocks emerged from the water, grouped together, little islands in the middle of the sea._

_I smiled. "Beautiful."_

_I hugged her to me, Mika facing away from me, and I rested my chin on her shoulder. Then, she looked back at me, stepping away and removing her head scarf. "Race you to the rocks?" She suggested, and then ran in._

"_Hey!" I complained, but I too ran in. Mika soon submerged underneath the water, making me lose track of her. So I just focused on getting to the rocks, trying to keep my head above the water. But soon, I had to go under as well._

_I had expected the water to sting my eyes, or at least make my vision blurry, but it was as if I had just entered a softly aqua tinted room. And then I caught sight of a smirking Mika, who had one, just one, finger on the rock. But it was still enough to win._

_She was gorgeous underwater. Her black hair pooled around her, creating a smoky background to her pale face, her blue eyes shone even more. _

_Pulling myself out of the water onto another rock next to the one Mika had reached before me; I waited for her to come up. And in no time at all, she pulled herself out of the water, flipping her hair out of her eyes so it ran down her back gracefully, and then wringing out the corners of her dress, just so she wouldn't be weighed down._

"_Cheater." I muttered._

_She laughed. "Sore loser."_

_I smiled slyly, and then lunged at the girl, knocking her into the water, myself following. Under the water, we fought, Mika gently kicking out, laughter in her eyes, and me causing her to tumble._

_Finally, we emerged into the air again; she wrapped her arms around my shoulders, staring at me._

_And then she in turn pushed me under. When she finally let me up, we laughed, and I scooped her up, carrying her to the shore again, laying her down in the grass. She pulled me down next to her, and then cuddled into my side. I wrapped my arms around her and just held her. Held her, I had never been able to hold a "her" ever in my life, not even my mother, unless they were part of the zodiac curse._

"_Why?" I asked her._

_She seemed to understand. "I'll tell you later. For now, just forget, relax, enjoy."_

_And I did so._

_But then, I felt that force again, and so did Mika, I merely held her tighter. "What is that?" I asked._

"_Life and death." She responded._

_She was being pulled towards death, I was being pulled towards life, how was she able to fight the force._

"_Because of you." She smiled, reading my mind._

"_Are you going to come back soon?" I asked, tucking her under my chin._

"_Yes. I can't stay here any longer. When you wake up, I'll be there, right by your side. Just stay with me here, for as long as we can, please." She begged._

_And I couldn't refuse her._

_We just lay there, our feet in the sand, gentle waves occasionally lapping against our bare feet, our upper body lying on the soft grass. I could see why Mika hadn't wanted to leave, but it didn't explain all of it._

**Author's Note: **What do you think? What's going to happen next? Why do you think she doesn't want to leave? Is she going to be able to stand against death? REVIEW! PS I'm in New Mexico, yay! Beautiful here, and I will be traveling again tomorrow, but I will update every day!


	13. Chapter 13

_We just lay there, our feet in the sand, gentle waves occasionally lapping against our bare feet, our upper body lying on the soft grass. I could see why Mika hadn't wanted to leave, but it didn't explain all of it._

_**Chapter Thirteen- Mika's Pov**_

_I basked in the warmth that Kyo generated, his strong chest beating against my ear as I rested my head on it. We were still lying on the sandy grass, we were both still here. And I couldn't have been happier. I was finally with Kyo, in a perfect, peaceful world. I wasn't under the constant threat the grey cloaks provided, or my own black cloaks. I was just, safe, peaceful, free._

_I nestled deeper into Kyo, taking in his fresh scent, so natural to him that he wouldn't give it a second thought, nor would many others, but to me, it explained the teenage boy perfectly. It was a clean fresh smell, mixed in with a spicy scent, and then there was, almost a darker scent. It was Kyo, not purely happy or good, not purely spunky and crazy, and not purely aloof and cold._

_I could only imagine how my own scent smelled like. It would probably be a dark scent, a cold scent, an empty scent. Perfectly fitting I suppose. I opened my eyes to look up at Kyo. His own eyes were closed, and he was soaking in the gentle rays of sun. For him, I had agreed to leave this beautiful place for. For him, I had agreed to go back to imprisonment. For him, I had agreed to live. All for him._

"_You better be worth it." I told him. He looked down at me, opening his crimson eyes, a smile spread across his face._

"_I hope I will be." He pulled me closer to him. "When are we leaving?" Kyo questioned, sighing almost sadly._

"_Soon, too soon, always too soon." I sighed heavily, and got up. "Come on, let's go to the waterfall. I want to see it."_

_Without question, Kyo got up and followed me. We walked through the shallower parts of the water, me lifting up my long white dress as I walked through the aqua water, as if I was on a death march. In a way, I suppose I was, but instead of marching towards death, I was marching towards life._

_And then, we reached the tumbling water fall that fell high above from a cliff. It created mist that rose off of the water in a high plume, and the pounding continued, but instead of being harsh on my ears, it was like the thrumming of a heartbeat, a steady beat of a drum. I giggled a little in excitement, and then, I darted underneath the water to take a better look at it. It was also incredible underwater. The water was disrupted, but it was, enjoyable._

_Kyo's face soon joined mine under the water, and I laughed as he attempted to touch the water, but was blown back by the force. When I came up I said "I thought cats didn't like water?"_

_He laughed, but then looked puzzled. "How did you"_

_And then, we both felt the pull again. But this time it was stronger, towards both ways. "Kyo, you need to wake up!" I yelled as I was pulled away from him._

"_No, I won't leave you alone!" He replied._

"_You have to! Go, wake!" And then, he disappeared._

_With one final glance around this beautiful place, my haven, I too, disappeared, one last glance towards freedom, one last glance towards my only place of safety. And then, I was gone, I disappeared into blackness, darkness, and then, in the dark, I saw the silver gleaming of metal, metal bars. The bars that kept me in this life, kept me prisoner of my curse._

_The darkness twisted and morphed into a tunnel, the bars disappearing, light coming from one of the ends, unbarred and beautiful, the way which I had just come, death. I started to walk towards it, run towards it, until I heard my name being called "Mika". Slowly, I turned, only inches from the light filled meadow, not yet out of the tunnel or the darkness. "Mika" the voice, Kyo's voice, called to me from the other end. The air a few feet in front of me, away from the light, shimmered, and Kyo's image emerged. His eyes bore into mine, his hair blowing away from his crimson eyes. So perfect, so beautiful, and he, Kyo, could be all mine. If I just stepped away from the light, into the dark, he would be mine forevermore._

_Then another image emerged, that of a man, black hair, stone cold black eyes, tall and thin, in a business suit. He glowered at me, staring at me with his sharp eyes, contrasting the friendly and tempting image of the one I loved._

_And yet another image emerged, my sister, standing there in her little black dress, surrounded by a black cloud that was her cloak, her blue eyes studying my own. Tears began to stream down her pale cheeks._

_Soon, she was joined by the others, all dressed in the cloaks that clashed against my own white dress, my dress of freedom against the cloaks of imprisonment. "Open up your eyes, save yourself from fading away." They all whispered._

_Then, another voice joined them, a memory of a voice, a memory of speech. "The cursed child has been born to the cursed family. The cursed one shall feel peace rarely; she shall feel love even less so. She shall be banished forever to the family of the black cloaks; she shall lead them to the final battle, to decide who shall finally win in the ancient feud. So all bow to the leader of the cursed ones, the leader of the banished, the leaders of the doom bringers, the monsters."_

_I looked back to the light, I wouldn't be banished, I wouldn't see all the people who bow to me, the princess of darkness, of the cold. But then, I wouldn't see Kyo. "She shall feel love even less so". Kyo, was my love._

_I turned, and then ran towards the images of the people I loved, and hated. The cursing voice grew louder, but I pushed it aside. I ran towards Kyo, towards my sister, towards the girls in the black cloaks. I ran away from my chance of peace for a long time, for freedom, for rest. And as my feet reached the darkest end of the tunnel, I emerged into Kyo's room, and behind me, bars slid in place behind me, tall thick bars made of the strongest metal, and then, the tunnel disappeared altogether._

_I slowly walked towards the lifeless body that was lying on the bed, and with one final look at Kyo, who was wiping the sleep from his eyes, I walked to the bed, and my ghostly figure sunk into my mortal form, and then, I was chained down into reality._

My eyes snapped open, coming face to face with Kyo's concerned crimson eyes. "Thank god! You're alive!" He hugged me close.

"Ow, Kyo, injured." I choked out. His eyes widened and he jumped back, gently laying me back down.

He looked down at me, a smile across his face. But to my own disappointment, I couldn't bring myself to smile. The pain had merely reminded me that I was back here. In this world, I was trapped again.

But Kyo was here with me. Maybe, maybe I could make it. Maybe I could stand my ground on the earth, until it is my time to pass into the world that I have come to love.

"I'll go get Shigure," Kyo began, obviously a little sad that he had hurt me. He was looking at his feet.

"Kyo, come here." I sighed, shaking my head a little. With his head still down, he walked back over to the bed and sat down. A small smile slipped onto my lips, and I pulled his head up. Then, as gently as I could, I pressed my lips against his. His lips were warm, a perfect mixture of hardness and softness, smooth. My own were cold, but otherwise quite the same. We were like fire and ice, crimson against icy eyes, orange against black hair, and yet we fit together perfectly, like the yin and yang. In many ways, as I knew when I first met him, we were destined to know each other, but I didn't know that we were destined to love each other.

When I finally pulled away, I whispered, "Just stay here, with me."

He nodded, and crawled in the bed, lying behind me, cradling me against him.

And we just lay there, in the dark of the night, the light of the full moon shining down on us, almost peaceful.

Almost being the key word. It was like the peace before the storm for me, I knew that coming back meant that I would have to accept my own destiny. And Kyo too felt that kind of peace, he, certainly must, have many unanswered questions.

But he didn't ask, not tonight. Tonight was the night that we would sleep, that we would relax, that we would find peace, for the first and probably last time.

**Author's Note: **Yay, we're in Arizona! It's really pretty here! Anyways, what do you think? What's going on? What's the big mystery? Who are these cloaked ones and why are they so important? Why did Mika say that she knew that Kyo and her were destined to meet? Do Kyo and Mika make a good couple? REVIEW!


	14. Chapter 14

_But he didn't ask, not tonight. Tonight was the night that we would sleep, that we would relax, that we would find peace, for the first and probably last time._

_**Chapter Fourteen- Kyo's Pov**_

When I woke up, Mika was still nestled into me; her cold skin was slightly warmer than it had been before, my own body temperature warming her. I tightened my arms around her waist, feeling the smooth muscles of her flat stomach. I drew small circles on it, feeling her stomach relax everywhere my fingers went, carefully avoiding her injured

Then, her eyes fluttered open. "Mmh." She smiled, flipped over towards me, and cuddling her face into my chest, so that I was drawing the shapes on her back. I smiled to myself as I felt her warmed breath filter through my shirt.

Her black hair was spread across the other side of the bed, long strands lying flat and silky. She could look amazing even after almost dying, after suffering an almost fatal injury. "I love you Mimi." I whispered to her.

A happy and content smile spread across Mika's face. "I love you too." And then she draped an arm around my waist, and fell asleep once again. I just watched her, wondering. Was she unhappy to be here? Was she wishing that she had made the choice to continue onto the underworld?

Or perhaps she was completely satisfied, well, maybe not completely, but enough to be able to live with herself, to live with being here, with me. Mika had changed from just a friend, to the one I loved with all my heart, in such a short time, and it made me almost burst with happiness.

But with this change and happiness, it also brought a lot of worry. She hinted that she already knew what I was, when we were still in that place between life and death, she had commented about cats not liking water. But she didn't hint that she knew anything about my actual curse, my monstrous form. What would she think? What would she say? Would she be disgusted like so many others, or would she be, well, I don't know what else she actually could be. Nobody else had reacted in any other way than disgust. Some had handled their disgust better than others, like Tohru, but they hadn't been unbothered by it.

For the first time in my life, I was actually scared. I was scared that she would hate me, for the rest of my and her life, and past it, and that she would leave me forever. But then, I looked down at her, sleeping. Her long dark eyelashes brushed the very top of her cheek bones, her hair gently spilled into her pale face, like a little trickle of a waterfall. Her pale legs were curled between my legs, and her arm cradled my waist. And then, a smile appeared on her face, a small smile, but a true, genuine smile. A smile that assured me, that everything was going to be fine. Everything would work itself out; everything would end up alright eventually. It was amazing that her one small little smile could impact my negative thoughts just like that.

I moved my hands up and stroked her hair back from her face, feeling the smoothness of the black gentle waves. She would have to meet Hanajima one of these days, and Uotani as well. I think that they would be friends. Maybe, after she gets better, they can finally meet.

And then, I suddenly remembered that her family just might be worried after their daughter had been gone for more than two days, disappearing. But I didn't have the heart to wake her; I would just wait until she woke up. Luckily, I didn't have to wait very long, in about thirty minutes, her blue eyes fluttered open once again, and then she looked up at me.

"Are your parents going to be worried?" I whispered, tucking a stray strand of hair behind her ear.

She giggled a little, although I didn't see anything very funny. "No, don't worry, he won't be. I once disappeared for a month, spending some time at a friend's house, and then when I finally went back, my father hadn't realized I was gone. And Sayomi understands. She doesn't worry about me. She would just know if anything happened to me. We are sisters after all."

I nodded, slightly unconvinced, but it was obvious that I wasn't going to change her mind. But then, I decided to change the subject to a more immediate topic.

"You know, you have a lot to explain." I raised an accusing eyebrow. She sighed in return, and tried to burrow her head into my chest again, but I pulled back. "Come on, you promised."

With a groan, she rolled onto her back, careful of her injured area, and then spoke. "I don't think you want to hear it, nor do I think you really have enough time or patience to listen to my entire story."

"Try me; I don't really want to move anyways." I said, running a finger up her arm in an attempt to convince her. "Please?" I tried a new method, pleading.

She sighed in defeat. "Fine, but don't get up and leave at the end."

I nodded and kissed her cheek gently. "How could I ever leave you?"

"You're about to find out." And then, she began.

**Author's Note: **REVIEW QUESTION OF THE DAY: What do you think Mika is going to tell Kyo? We are now in California, moving down from LA to San Diego, we travelled here by car! So I've been really, really tired, or else I would've updated a lot more, but when we get to our final destination of San Diego, I will try to update multiple times, but at least every day. K, thanks! ALSO, CHECK OUT MY TWITTER: /#!/cornerofthesun Everything at every time will be updated there, stories, locations, reasons if there's no update (sick, no wifi on computer)

-Echo


	15. Chapter 15

"_You're about to find out." And then, she began._

_**Chapter Fifteen- Kyo's Pov**_

"Up until last school year, I had been home schooled, by tutors that work for work for my father. Let me just establish this fact first by saying that when my father knows everyone, I mean everyone. He is a really, really powerful man, who has all the right friends in all the right places, all the right actions at all the right times. My father is Husu Monimoto." I had to let out a sharp intake of breath when I heard this. "You've heard of him no doubt?" She gave a small smile.

"He's the most powerful gang boss in Japan. You're his, daughter?" I exclaimed in surprise. Mr. Husu Monimoto, the most ruthless and cleverest man that had ever headed organized crime in the entire world.

"Yes, I am Mika Monimoto. My father heads the majority of the gangs, except two, which are the ones that I am going to tell you about. First, there are the Kuro Nekos. They are nothing to worry about. And then, there are the Yumishimos. That gang is the enemy of the Kuro Nekos."

"And who are the Kuro Nekos?" I questioned.

She sighed. "That's a long story, unfortunately, it's a necessary one." She seemed to almost convince herself instead of me. "I'll start from the very beginning." And then, she did.

"If people looked close enough in the history books, they would discover that the Monimoto family name didn't just pop into the crime radar. There has always been gangs in Japan, or some form of organized crime, and at the top of it, controlling all the thugs, murders, and other pleasant outstanding citizens, was _always_ a Monimoto."

"And nobody has ever noticed?" I asked.

She shrugged. "I'm sure they have, they just haven't lived to tell the tale."

I gulped, and she continued. "The Monimoto's and the Sohma's have also always known each other, throughout the ages, up to the exact date of the banquet. My family was the army of god, the guards, the fighters, until that one day. The oldest daughter of the Monimoto family was a personal friend of the god, and was therefore, invited to the banquet to look on. But this was not taken as an honor from the daughter's father. He took it as a severe insult that he too had not been invited. He then took all the people that were under his control, except for a special few, and raided the palace whilst everyone was in the banquet hall. When god found out about this, he banished all the Monimotos, except for a selected five, including the oldest daughter, for they had not participated in the crime. These five were then named the Kuro Nekos. But they did not escape all punishment. Later on, after living happily with god, they got into a fight with the Yumishimo clan, a family that was also very close to god. The fight quickly turned violent, almost killing two members of the Yumishimo clan, and one member of the unpunished Monimoto clan, the oldest daughter. God made his decision that he would punish both equally, and so he put a curse on them, much like the zodiac curse, except they turn into their gang symbol, the kuro neko. And I, being the oldest daughter of the Monimoto clan, am the leader of the Kuro Neko gang."

I sat in stunned silence; my mind couldn't even begin to comprehend the story.

Mika's eyes were closed, and she was leaning up against the wall, her feet touching my leg just slightly, loosely, if I wanted to pull away.

"And what do you turn into?" I asked nervously.

And to my absolute surprise, she smiled. "This is the more positive part of this discussion. I thought you would've caught on. I'm the leader of the kuro nekos, I'm called Kuro Nekohime."

Automatically, the name clicked in my head. It was a name that I would be able to understand, no matter what context was added. "Black Cat Princess, black cat." I answered her, understanding now the implications.

She nodded. "I, along with all the others, turn into a black cat. Whenever we wish to, not just when we're hugged by the opposite gender. The others, the Yumishimo clan, turn into white lions. It's an unfair size difference, but we are smaller and it's easier to outsmart them." Mika gave a small laugh. "That's why I knew you and I were destined to meet. We practically have worshiped you, the cat, the original, the leader of the nekos."

I stared at her. "And how did you get hurt?"

She sighed. "As I mentioned before, cats against lions, a very unfair size difference, even humans against lions is unfair. And that is what happened to me. Sayomi was in cat form, I was in human form, they had her pinned against a tree, and I lunged towards them. I succeeded in injuring the leader of their group, and they succeeded in injuring the leader of our group." She explained. "And that's the end of my story. The Kuro Nekos and the Yumishimo gangs were cursed to always fight, until the final battle when the feud is settled forever."

Mika looked down, withdrawing all contact she had with me, obviously expecting from my stunned look for me to dart, to kick her out, or to leave her just as she had feared. But instead, I grabbed her, and lifted her gently, as to not hurt her, onto my lap, cradling her in my lap.

I leaned down and captured her lips in a long, sweet, soft kiss. When we finally pulled away, I smiled and whispered. "Now you just _have _to meet Hana and Uo."

**Author's Note: **REVIEW QUESTION OF THE DAY: What do you think? What impact do you think this will have? Are a black cat and an orange cat a cute couple?

Alright, there you go! Hopefully I can upload another chapter later tonight. Thank you, and please REVIEW! Tell me if you liked the chapter, it may not be my best, guess what, I'm sick, again, on spring break. But it's probably just aftershock from last week. I CHANGED MY TWITTER ACCOUNT: it is now "EchoSalazar" instead of "CorneroftheSun"

-Echo


	16. Chapter 16

_I leaned down and captured her lips in a long, sweet, soft kiss. When we finally pulled away, I smiled and whispered. "Now you just have to meet Hana and Uo."_

_**Chapter Sixteen- Kyo's Pov**_

It had been a week since Mika had arrived at our house. During that time, Sayomi had stopped by, just to drop off some clothes for her, and check when she would be back. After receiving a vague estimate between two more weeks and two more years, Sayomi figured that was the best that she was getting, and left after giving me a tight hug of thanks.

Mika had been getting progressively better, not yet one hundred percent yet, in fact, she was probably only near forty five, but it was better from where she had started at minus ten. She was getting out of bed too, much to my dislike, I had been keeping her company, a time where we would talk, laugh, kiss, or just dream, together. When she did get up, she would go and maybe make herself something to eat, refusing to both Tohru for her cooking, or maybe go outside and walk around. Once, Yuki had even walked her to his secret base, to show her the strawberries that were now very ripe. Although she did have some trouble walking all the way over to the garden, she claimed the fresh fruit was worth it.

Periodically, while Mika was asleep, I would retreat up to the roof, and bask in the sunlight. And even when she wasn't, I would go up there, occasionally accompanied by the girl. If she could've summoned the energy and strength to come with me every time, she would've, Mika liking heights equally or perhaps even more than I.

And throughout this week, I have found that I loved her even more than I thought I ever could. Everything about her was perfect. She was graceful, beautiful, sweet, kind, a cat, cursed, and loving. Even though she appears to be so cold, so empty, I knew she wasn't, even though she believed it to be true.

I still couldn't believe that she was a Monimoto, or part of a gang, or even that she was cursed. But it made so much sense, that I couldn't deny it. And I remained unbothered. I was a Sohma, cursed as well, except I didn't have the choice to change when I wanted to. Yet, I didn't have to forever fight a gang for the rest of my existence.

I was up on the roof, Yuki was out with Tohru shopping, and Shigure was in his study with his editor, and from the begging and pleading that was coming from that direction, I could only assume the reasonable expectation that the dog was torturing her. Mika was downstairs as well, but in the living room, watching some television and eating some rice cakes.

It turns out that her favorite foods were kobmu rice balls, inari, rice cakes, and red bean cakes. I had learned to make all of these early on in life, so not only was Mika very, very happy, but it made me happy to see her as pleased as she was.

With a satisfied sigh, I leapt down, all the way to the ground, and walked in the front door. "Hey Mika." I called.

Mika looked up from her place on the futon couch with a smile. Her food was one the table in front of her, and she was lying in a position that wouldn't hurt her stomach injuries. "Hey Kyo."

"Arisa and Saki are going to be stopping by today for dinner. You can meet them if you'd like." I suggested. She nodded excitedly. Not only did she have things in common with only Hanajima, but now as I had just learned, she had things in common with Uotani as well.

"Of course!" She grinned, and got up, leisurely walking over to me and wrapping her arms around my neck, giving me a quick peck on the lips. "So, what are we going to do in the meantime?"

I shrugged. "Everyone's busy. Are you up to walking to some of the shops in town? I'll get you whatever you want?" I smiled as her face lit up. She had wanted to go shopping for something, she wouldn't tell me what, for a couple days now.

"Yes, yes, yes! Thank you so much Kyokyo!" She jumped onto me in a hug, and then pulled me out the door, already dressed in a corset topped dress with a full skirt, and some platform black shoes.

We walked slowly down to the shops, rows upon rows of brightly decorated buildings. Every shop we passed, Mika would happily peer inside through the windows, and then keep moving. Although I would never get Mika to admit it, this was because her side was hurting. So I offered her a ride on my back, just for the fun of it. She accepted, and we walked slash rode down the street.

That is, until Mika saw a store that she definitely wanted to go into. Already knowing what it would mean, I sighed, but followed her inside after letting her off my back. I accepted the consciences that this action would bring.

Mika had walked into an animal shelter, of course, and was currently looking at a large play pen, filled with small balls of fur. Kittens.

She looked at me, her eyes pleading, and I crumbled. The great and mighty Kyo, the martial artist, the fighter, the cat, fell just because the one he loved wanted something.

With a huge smile Mika picked out not one, but two balls of fur, and then went up to the front of the shelter, an even larger grin plastered across her face. And suddenly, I didn't feel guilty anymore. If it brought her this much happiness, I would willingly accept the two additional family members.

After she purchased the kittens and the supplies, or rather, after _I _purchased everything, I did say that I would get her whatever she wanted, we left.

"Can I see?" I questioned backwards, getting Mika's attention from her place on my back.

With her arms forming a loop around my neck, she held the padded bag open. I stopped to get a good look at the new cats.

There was a small black kitten, curled into a ball, against a dark orange kitten, both sleeping peacefully in their safe carrier, orange and black, representing Mika and I.

"What are you going to name them?" I asked as she closed the bag.

"I was thinking, Yoyo after you, and Miki after me. Does that sound good?" I could hear the smile in her voice.

"That sounds perfect." I smiled, and we walked, or for Mika, rode, home.

Shigure was walking through, walking away from the kitchen, the editor long gone, when we entered. I could hear Yuki and Tohru in the kitchen, the mystery why the rat was in there still puzzles me.

"Hello there Mika, Kyo. What did you get? Anything good?" The dog asked. I had told him Mika's story, along with Yuki and Tohru, during dinner many days ago, while she slept.

"We think so." Mika giggled.

Shigure raised an eyebrow, and looked inside the bag.

Leaving a shocked looking, and helpless, Shigure, in the living room, we retreated upstairs to settle the kittens in in our room before Uo and Hana came over.

**Author's Note: **Yay for Yoyo and Miki! REVIEW QUESTION OF THE DAY: Do you like the kittens? Do you think that Uotani and Hanajima will like Mika? Review please!

-Echo

PS We just reached our final destination in California, so I will be updating a little more than I have been. Hopefully, you'll like it!


	17. Chapter 17

_Leaving a shocked looking, and helpless, Shigure, in the living room, we retreated upstairs to settle the kittens in in our room before Uo and Hana came over._

_**Chapter Seventeen- Kyo's Pov**_

"Uo, Hana, you're here!" I heard Tohru exclaim, and felt the small vibrations that the running of feet downstairs.

Mika sighed, tired from today's activities no doubt. This was the longest she had been awake, much less outside. And now, she had two kittens to take care of. But luckily, they had fallen asleep just a few minutes before the two friends of Tohru's had arrived.

"Let's go." I said, helping her up. With most of her support on me, we walked down the stairs. "Don't worry, they'll like you." I whispered the promise in her ear.

In the living room, was Arisa, dressed in her long black coat that had belonged to Tohru's mother, and Saki, who was dressed in a long black dress, much like the one that Mika wore. But while Mika wore platform shoes, Hana wore black flats.

"Hello Uotani, Hanajima." Mika gave a small smile.

"Ishikawa?" Uo asked.

Mika looked to me; we had discussed the plan for tonight together carefully. "It's Monimoto, Mika Monimoto." I answered.

Hana and Uo exchanged glances, before Arisa shrugged. "I guess we have something to talk about then."

Mika smiled at the blonde. "I suppose we do."

Saki studied her. "You have interesting waves. Have you ever thought about exploring more mystical or psychic career path?"

Mika looked slightly puzzled, but then understanding spread over her face. "Once or twice, but I don't think it's really in my area of expertise. Anyways, Tohru, take it away, I'm going to watch some television if you don't mind." She sighed, and limped to the couch.

Throughout dinner, that's where she stayed. To others, it would appear that she was tired, but I could tell that she was experiencing quite a bit of pain currently. Maybe I should go and chuck on her. But before I could, dinner was over. And then we all went over to the living room.

"So, you're really a Monimoto? That family was a legend in my old gang." Uo began.

Mika nodded. "What gang were you in?"

"The Jigoku no shōjo." Uotani answered. Mika raised her eyebrow and nodded.

"A powerful gang, why did you quit? I mean, I understand the life isn't for everyone, but it takes a lot to get into the Jugokus."

Arisa and Tohru shared a smile. "It was just the right choice."

Then, Hanajima leaned forward. "Well, I have two questions. One would be why are you here in the Sohma house? Are you perhaps related to one of them? Or are you just a friend?"

"I'm Kyo's girlfriend." Mika answered without hesitating. And I really liked the way it sounded.

"And two, where do you get your clothing? You have very good taste."

Mika smiled. "A little store, I'd have to show you it. I like your clothes as well." Saki smiled back, a rare occurrence. These three were getting along fine.

"Alright, that's enough questioning. Kyo, how about a game of cards? Winner gets twenty bucks." Uo suggested, drawing a deck out of her pocket.

"You're on you damn yankee." I growled.

"Hana, you in?"

Hana nodded, and began to shuffle the cards with her black painted nails.

"Mika?" I questioned, but she shook her head.

"Sorry, but I don't do cards. However, watching this will be more enjoyable than it would to play." She smiled, tucking herself under my arm, and I held her tight.

We played half the night, eventually, Arisa won, of course. And then, I argued that she had cheated, for the other half of the night, finally paying what I owed before the three friends retreated to Tohru's room to sleep. Mika cuddled with me, lying on my chest, on the couch.

"That was nice. I like Arisa and Saki."

I smiled softly, brushing her hair back from her closed eyes. "I thought you would."

She gave a grunt, and then her breathing evened out. It still was shallower than usual, but it was better than when she had first arrived. I close my eyes too, and listened to her still slightly weakened heartbeat. I was still very worried about her, Mika, my girlfriend. But she wouldn't let me take care of her. It was just who she was, she tried to keep the strong appearance, around everyone, even me. I couldn't break that habit yet, but that didn't mean I wasn't going to give it one hell of a good try.

"I love you so much Mika." I whispered, gently rubbing her back.

And then, I feel asleep.

_I was on the roof, basking in the sunlight. Everything was so quiet, so serene. A warm breeze was blowing, ruffling my orange hair. The sun's rays filtered through my thin black shirt, warming my skin to a satisfying heat._

"_Hey Kyokyo." I heard a voice whisper next to my ear. But instead of being startled, it made me relax even more. It was a voice that I trusted, loved, adored._

"_Hey Mika. What are you doing here?" I asked, opening my eyes to look at the girl who was standing on the roof in front of me._

_She was wearing that same white dress, the thin material clinging to her graceful curves, the paleness made her black hair stand out beautifully, as well as her blue eyes, which shone even more. Beside her, two cats were perched, one black, one orange, Miki and Yoyo, except they were larger, older._

"_Nothing really, just thought I would see what you dream about. I got bored of my own." She shrugged, lying down beside me. "I like your dreams better."_

"_Why, what do you dream about?" I questioned, wrapping my arms around her._

_She sighed. "Nothing really."_

"_And how can you even be here, in my dreams?"_

_She sighed again. "I don't know. It's a power that all the Kuro Nekos have. No real reason I suppose. But it is nice. I like being here with you. It reminds me of before."_

_I understood where she was talking about immediately. "It is nice here." I agreed. "So did you like Arisa and Saki?"_

_Mika smiled. "Yes, they were very nice."_

"_And how are you feeling?" I questioned. It was always worth a try._

_She shrugged. "Fine, it doesn't hurt very much anymore."_

_Even though I knew this to be a lie, I wasn't going to waste our time that we have here on the matter. I could always discuss it in the real world._

_Instead, I let it pass. We talked about small things, until we finally fell asleep, right on the roof. Happy and peaceful, finally. But we had to wake up eventually._


	18. Chapter 18

_Instead, I let it pass. We talked about small things, until we finally fell asleep, right on the roof. Happy and peaceful, finally. But we had to wake up eventually._

_**Chapter Eighteen- Kyo's Pov**_

The next week went past rather uneventfully. Every night I would join Mika in the land of dreams, or rather, she would join me. She steadily grew better, until she could walk with me around the perimeter of the land.

And the kittens, Yoyo and Miki, even made her better. Every morning, they would wake us up, Yoyo jumping onto my futon, and then Miki would leap up onto Mika's bed. There was no need for anyone to wake us; maybe Yuki should get a cat, he might be in a better mood if he woke up to a friendly face.

It was the morning, Mika was up before me, downstairs in the living room which had become her favorite place, besides the roof, so I went downstairs too.

"Hey Kyo." She greeted, eating some udon.

"Hey Mika." I responded, and headed to the kitchen to get the milk.

"Good morning Kyo!" Shigure sang, sitting across from Tohru and Yuki at the table. I grunted a resonse, slightly irritated by the happy tone he was using so early in the day. Tohru gave the same tone of greeting, and of course Yuki, gave none, his head on the table, just missing his bowl of noodles.

Suddenly, we all heard a crash, and we glanced at each other. It was a sound we knew much too well, especially Shigure.

"Alright, who kicked down the door?" The dog called, getting up along with the rest of us, except for Yuki who appeared to have fallen asleep.

When we got into the living room, Mika was standing up, her foot resting on top of some figure, dressed in a grey cloak. We stopped in the doorway, something about the air of the room made us shy away from entering.

"What the hell are you doing here bitch? You certainly weren't invited, and you just broke a door. Not a great entrance you little prat, not really making me want to humor you." My girlfriend growled down at the trapped person, who I could now see was a girl.

"They said you were hurt, how the hell did you make such a comeback?" The female in the cloak whimpered, obviously surprised.

Mika chuckled, her eyes shone with a dangerous blue iciness I had never seen before. "I always bounce back quickly. What about Kaji, how's she doing? I got her pretty good; she should still be in bed."

"N-no! Ou-ur leader is just as strong as any kuro." The girl was so obviously lying, the stuttering when she said this, it was practically painful.

Just as I was going to step forwards and do something to help, Mika let the girl up. "Hamji, just get out of here. I don't want to see you, you don't want to see me, I'll let you off easy this time." Mika gave a quick half smile. What?

"R-really? Thank y" But before the girl, Hamji, could finish her thanks, Mika gave a cold laugh.

"No." And then Mika picked the cloaked figure up by her neck, and threw her through the hole where the door used to be, and into the yard. The younger girl landed with a painful thwack against a boulder that I had landed on in so many fights I had experienced with Yuki.

Then, the Kuro Neko leader slinked, catlike, over to the fallen girl. Picking up the ends of the girl's cloak, she gave a strong tug, and ripped it. Then, another rip, another, another, another, until the grey cloth was completely shredded.

Mika then walked back towards us, still in our stunned positions in the house doorway. Hamji darted away, into the forest, and no doubt away from the superior fighter.

I was the first to respond. "Are you alright Mika?"

Then was Tohru, who asked the same question, to which Mika nodded her head.

"Sorry about that. Hamji is the youngest; she was only probably sent to see that I was still injured. When she saw that I was up and about, she panicked. How she managed to break the door, I don't know. But don't worry Shigure, I'll pay for repairs."

Before Shigure could abject, another rustling in the brush alerted us that we weren't alone. But Mika looked unworried. "Don't panic, they won't bite, much."

Out of the trees came four cloaked figures, hoods drawn over their heads, with the fabric blowing behind them as they ran. They came to a stop five feet away from us.

"Mika!" The shortest one exclaimed whilst running, and then jumping onto my girlfriend.

Mika smiled. "Hey Sayomi." Then she nodded to the rest of the black-cloaked figures. "Amaya, Fuyu, Mai, how are you doing? What are you doing? Fill me in."

All the figures drew back their hoods, revealing of course, Sayomi, and then three strangers. The resemblance they had to Mika was somewhat eerie. All had long black hair, although it did vary in exact length, and sometimes texture. All had pale skin, that seemed to have the same glow, and all had blue eyes. But none of them seemed to be as beautiful as Mika; perhaps it was because I was so in love with her. It just seemed as though their eyes weren't as bright and vibrant as Mika's, their skin wasn't as pale yet healthy in appearance, and none of their hair was as flowing and soft looking as Mika's, although Sayomi did come close in the comparison.

"Nothing much, we saw grey, so we thought we might check it out. Looks like you handled it, you're feeling better." One of the girls said, not a question but a comment.

"Who are these people?" The second girl from the right asked, interested in the men, and the woman, that stood behind their leader. From the second I saw them, I knew, they were the Kuro Nekos.

"Oh, right, introductions." Mika turned and pointed to each of us as she listed our names. "This is Shigure Sohma, Tohru Honda, Yuki Sohma, and Kyo Sohma." I noted that Yuki was leaning heavily on the door just behind us, his eyes barely open, but he was there.

The girl who hadn't spoken yet raised an eyebrow. "So this is the famous Kyo. Is he your boyfriend yet?" She obviously believed that she would make her leader embarrassed, but luck was on Mika's side.

"Yes." She simply answered.

"Shigure, Yuki, Tohru, Kyo, meet Amaya Abe, Fuyu Yoshida, and Mai Kato." She pointed the girls out. We nodded a simultaneous greeting.

The girls looked at each other. "We have to go, sorry, but there's something going on at the grey's headquarters, we just want to patrol a little."

"Do you need me at all?" Mika questioned.

They shook their heads. "We need you to get fully recovered. Then you can start worrying about others." Fuyu laughed.

Then, they ran off into the woods.

Mika turned to us, clapping her hands together. "Welcome to my life." She sighed with a tired smile, and then headed back inside.

**Author's Note: **Sorry this is up so late, I'm running on California time, and I surfed all day today, seriously, all day. REVIEW QUESTION OF THE DAY: What do you think of Mika's gang? We'll explore them more, don't worry. Also, what do you think will happen next? What do you want to happen next? I HAVE WRITER'S BLOCK, SO LEAVE ME SUGGESTIONS! Love you all, thanks!

-Echo


	19. Chapter 19

_Mika turned to us, clapping her hands together. "Welcome to my life." She sighed with a tired smile, and then headed back inside._

_**Chapter Nineteen- Mika's Pov**_

"So tell me about them." Kyo said. We were in his bed; it was dark outside, for the night had already spread to the furthest reaches of the sky. He had his arms wrapped around me, and his warmth made me comfortable.

I knew that he meant my fellow cursed ones, the Kuro Nekos.

I sighed, knowing that I had to fill him in. "Well, there's Amaya Abe, Fuyu Yoshida, and Mai Kato, also Sayomi, but you already know her. We've known each other, basically forever. We grew up together, we practically live together, our houses are close together, I think they did that on purpose. And they're all cursed, for the simple reason they're all distantly related to a Monimoto."

He nodded. "So who's your favorite, not counting Sayomi?"

I shrugged. "I don't have one, I like them all equally." Kyo gave a grunt.

"Everyone pretends not to have favorites, but inside, they do favor one, even just a fraction more, than the other." I laughed, when did my boyfriend get so wise?

I sighed. "I do like Mai. She's really attentive, responsible, trustworthy, and she also can move really well when we train. I'm never worried when she's with me, or with Sayomi. So I guess you could say she's my favored one."

Kyo grinned, triumphant. I rolled my eyes at his childlike ways.

"So, tell me more." He urged, laying his head against my shoulder blade, and pulling me even closer, if that was possible.

"Fine, I'll tell you everything I know about them, would that make you happy?" He nodded against my back. I sighed. "Well, Amaya is two years younger than us. None of the girls are actually older than me, I don't know how it worked out like that, but it did, the miracles of being a Monimoto I guess. She came from a home with three other half siblings, the mother who was the granddaughter of a Monimoto died, and Amaya's father remarried after that. We took her in, and she actually lives at our house, after a conflict arose with her stepmother. She's really a great person, but Sayomi doesn't like her very much, the only person that Sayomi doesn't like. Fuyu has been together with Mai, dating, for about three years now. They came from the same area, just in Tokyo. Fuyu was actually adopted, but since she was legally bound to the Monimoto family, the curse accepted her. Maybe it was because we needed more girls, or maybe it was just another one of those miracles. Fuyu and Mai are both adored by Sayomi; they love to watch her on the days I have to prepare for the upcoming battle. That's basically it; I'm too tired to think of anything else." I attempted to put him off the curiosity that seemed to suddenly overwhelm him.

"Anything else? I don't want too many surprises." Ha, if he thought there would be no more after this, he was sadly mistaken. But I wasn't going to be the one to tell him this.

"Nothing really. We're all girls, always have been. The other gang is all girls too. And again, no explanation that we've figured out. Now can we please go to sleep, I'll show you more in the dreams, alright?"

He nodded, he was tired too.

So I imagined the scene that I wanted to pull him into as I fell asleep, and then, we both appeared.

"_Come on." I whispered, and we walked through a dark tunnel, the tunnel to the beginning of the dream._

_We emerged into a bright meadow, much like the ones that appeared when I was in limbo, except this one, existed, in the real world. I led him by the hand to a beautiful Japanese styled building._

"_Is that a dojo?" Kyo asked, staring wondrously up at the house._

_I nodded. "This is just two miles behind my house, still on our property. I should take you to my house one of these days, only would be fair."_

_We walked onto the porch, and then I sat down and leaned against the outer wall. "Sit down."_

_Kyo sat, and then we looked into the meadow. In just a few minutes, five girls ran into the grassy clearing, all dressed in black cloaks, their hoods down, and black hair blowing long behind them._

"_Why is your hair always long?" Kyo questioned, observing._

"_I don't know. But we've always had it; my father would never let me cut it, or anyone else. We can't get piercings either, except for ears, and we can only get gang associated tattoos." I had to laugh at the last part; other parents would have a heart attack if their child came home with a gang tattoo, but not my dad._

_The girls came to a halt, and I recognized myself, standing in the middle of the clearing, surrounded by the others. "Alright, training time. Mai, you're with Fuyu. Ayama, you're with Sayomi."_

_My past self walked towards the dojo, where she sat down on the steps, just a few feet away from us, watching over the other girls as they practiced martial arts moves and techniques. _

"_So this is your training?" Kyo asked, looking on with wide eyes as the others moved fluidly, not perfectly, but above the average._

_Then, my other self got up, and walked into the meadow. With a simple movement, she flung her black cape over a nearby bush, revealing that she was dressed in black pants, baggy for ease of movement and a black shirt that clung tight to her skin. She then walked to the center of the meadow again, and all the girls moved to the sides, to watch._

_With one simple and graceful leap, she leapt up onto a bar that hung from a tree branch, the only one that crossed paths with the meadow. Gaining momentum, she swung herself, and then, let go, flinging herself across the meadow, and landing on her hands, in a perfectly balanced handstand. She just stayed there for a few second, maintaining a straight and upright form, and then went over backwards, and from there, lifted herself up using her stomach muscles. Then, she did a series of cartwheels, and back flips, quickly moving across the meadow, and then finally stopping once again at the steps of the dojo, where she then sat down, and the other girls reformed, and began their training again._

_It was obvious that she was the most advanced. "That was impressive; we'll have to see if you can still do that when we get back." Kyo commented. _

"_Of course I can baka neko, I have to keep in shape for the final battle." I elbowed him._

_He nodded. "When is that anyways?"_

_I responded simply. "In two days."_

**Author's Note: **REVIEW QUESTION OF THE DAY: Oo, what's going to happen for the final battle? Why is it so soon? Is Mika going to be ready? *gasp* did you like this chapter? I HAVE WRITERS BLOCK, HELP OUT WITH IDEAS? Thank you so much for reading. I'm exhausted; I spent the day surfing, from 6:00am to 5:00pm, all at the beach, only getting out of the water for a quick lunch. Anyways, please REVIEW, and enjoy the next couple chapters.

-Echo

PS: I am planning a HatsuharuXOC story after this one is finished, does that sound good?


	20. Chapter 20

_I responded simply. "In two days."_

_**Chapter Twenty- Kyo's Pov**_

I jerked upright in bed, snapped out of my dream by the last three words that Mika answered. I looked down at her; she was tucked into my arm, her head lying on my shoulder. She blinked, waking up as well, but slower.

"What?" I yelled.

She sighed, blinking her eyes, and then rubbing them. "Mm, keep your voice down."

"The final battle is in two days?" I yelled again, disregarding her warning.

"Yes, when did you think it was? In another six hundred years, or maybe a thousand? All of the family feuds, all the fighting that continued over so many years, boils down to this, in two days. And before you ask, I didn't tell you because I wanted to forget about it, just to relax with you, have some fun with you, before the fight."

I sighed. "You could've told me you know. But since you didn't, you need to tell me one more thing. How do ya know that it's in two days?"

Mika began to look awkward. "Mika?" I pushed.

"Because, there was a prophecy, passed down with each generation." She explained.

I raised an eyebrow. "And what prophecy would this be?"

Again she looked awkward. "Mika."

Then, she began to recite.

"_In the year of the earth dragon girls,_

_The final battle shall take place._

_Five from each side will enter,_

_And on the battlefield,_

_Two will fall._

_Wither they live or die,_

_Can only be told in the moment._

_But that does not mean,_

_That the past shall not have its own input,_

_On the decision of life or death,_

_Or which team shall win._

_The only thing that is decided,_

_Is the two that shall die in battle._

_They are the two figures,_

_The most important,_

_They are,_

_The leaders,_

_Just to serve as a reminder,_

_That the greatest will always still fall."_

I stared at her, finally understanding the implications. "Does that mean, but you're, you're a leader, you can't"

She nodded. "The other leader and I are the ones destined to fall in the battle, hence why I wanted to spend as much time as possible with you. You made it so I wouldn't want to die. All my life, I had prepared to die; I had made the world into this, antagonistic force. I had made it into something that I would have done anything to escape from. And then, you came along, you changed everything, everything. Now, I want to die with you, I want to live with you. I don't want to leave; I don't want to leave you." Mika began to sob, her whole frame shaking with tears I was sure had never been spilled before.

"Then you don't have to." I whispered, a plan already forming in my mind.

**Author's Note: **I'M SORRY THIS IS SO SHORT! I'm sick again, on spring break, the cold water woke up that virus I had before, and now I can't really think. But I promise, I will have a longer one tomorrow, I swear! REVIEW QUESTION OF THE DAY: What do you think Kyo can do to stop this from happening? Why will the leaders die?


	21. Chapter 21

"_Then you don't have to." I whispered, a plan already forming in my mind._

_**Chapter Twenty-One- Mika's Pov**_

"Then you don't have to." Kyo whispered into my ear, and I looked up to him.

His eyes were distant, and I could already see a plan forming in his head. I had to admit, it made me nervous. I didn't want Kyo to do anything, crazy, but inside, I knew he would.

"Where is the battle taking place?" He questioned, his eyes returning.

I told him, I had memorized the date, place, everything, since I was just three years old. "Midnight, two days, underneath the full moon, in the largest clearing in the west forest. Yumishimo's enter from the north side, we enter from the south, and then the fight begins. We will be fighting with everything and anything; I will personally be using two twin blades, martial arts, and anything that fits the circumstance."

"You do martial arts?" Kyo asked, off topic.

I nodded. "You saw me." I reminded.

"Oh, right." I smiled, and sat up, leaning into his strong chest.

"You're planning something. Don't." I whispered, a few minutes later. I could hear his heartbeat, so steady, a steady, strong thumping in his heart. I knew the sound of mine, weak, erratic, not nearly as nice as his. But I didn't need to worry about such things as that, it would be gone soon enough.

He looked down at me; I could feel his neck move. "I wasn't planning anything." Kyo said it so innocently and believably that I _almost _believed him. Almost being the key word.

"You are. And I don't want you to do whatever you're planning on doing, because it'll just get you hurt, or maybe even worse, killed, and then where would we be? I don't want you to die in my battle." I gave him a slight glare, a warning. I wasn't mad, but I would be if he died. If he came into my little paradise world before his time, or not in a dream, I would resurrect him and then kill him myself.

He held his hands up in surrender, and I looked away, closing my eyes.

Then we heard some crashing of pots and pans, and we both looked at each other with a knowing smile. Our trap had worked.

Darting downstairs, we caught Shigure just as he was untangling himself from the metal objects, and the string that we designed to have the dog trip. It was our new way of keeping him on a diet. Not that we really cared, but when Yuki suggested it, we volunteered, it sounded too amusing and fun to pass up. And boy was it.

"Trying to get into the sweets again Shigure, that's against your diet." I smiled.

With his head bent in defeat, Shigure retreated back to his study with a carrot, not as sweet or sugary as he had originally hoped for, but it was enough to do the job. And then, before we knew it, the whole house was awake.

First was Tohru who greeted us with a happy smile and a formal good morning. We did the same, but with much less formality and happy looks, neither of us did "happy", maybe that's why we got along so well. The other girl then retreated to the kitchen to make breakfast.

Then, a tired, and one quarter awake Yuki, who looked like he was going to fall over and just fall asleep in the middle of the living room, appeared. I had once asked Kyo why he didn't fight Yuki when he was like this, knowing full well that the cat would've tried anything to beat his rival the rat, and received the answer that Yuki was apparently even better at fighting when he was tired and more than half asleep. Go figure.

And Shigure never once emerged from his office. "Where's Shigure-san?" Tohru asked as we all sat down, looking around.

I giggled, and Kyo gave a, very, evil smile to me, and we laughed. "He already ate, he must be stuffed, all the food that he ate." A whole carrot, but we didn't tell Honda this. She didn't know he was on diet, only Yuki knew, and regarding the newly arranged pots, and the discarded string, he was giving a slight smile.

Yuki's smiles were a lot like mine, when I was in the real world. They rarely came, if ever, but when they did come, they were worth it, and not for something meaningless. I liked Yuki, and I think that if I had a little more time left, we could become friends. But things never work like that in my life, never had, and never will.

After eating our breakfast noodles, Kyo and I went to the living room. He lay down on the futon couch, and I crawled next to him, half on top of him, and we relaxed in to the sunlight that was gently spreading through the window. The sun wasn't hitting the roof just yet; otherwise we would've gone straight up there. Both of us being cats, we naturally followed the sun, wherever it went, lazily basking in the warming light, curled together.

With a smile, a thought formed in my mind. In my last days, I wanted to spend as much time with Kyo, and make him smile throughout these short two days, forty eight hours, less than that, less than forty eight hours for me to live. I stretched up my back, in a very catlike manner, and then with a little bit of focus, I felt myself poof, and then I shrank. Kyo jumped up, with an amusing noise, and then picked up my new form.

I purred into his arms, curling my tail around his supporting arm. It was nice that he was the year of the cat; I could talk to him even in this form, which made my life much easier.

_Kyon-kyon, relax. I can do this whenever I want, remember? That's one of the differences between your curse and mine._

He breathed out a breath that he had been holding. "Don't do that to me again you dumb cat." He growled.

I laughed, which coming from a cat you think would sound strange, but it was quite natural. Most cats can do it, there's just not a lot that makes them laugh, and when something does, humans have little to nothing to do with it.

He sat back down, and put me on his stomach, and folded his arms behind his head, and closed his eyes. My black paws gently kneaded into his hard and trained stomach, and I made sure that my claws missed his skin as they went through his black shirt. By fur, about medium length, pure black, soaked up the sunlight. I purred in contentment, and then fell asleep of Kyo's stomach.

A noise woke me, and I stretched, sitting up on my haunches. Shigure and Yuki were staring at me, so was Tohru. "Where'd you come from?" Shigure smiled, scratching my chin.

I leaned into his hand without thinking, it was instinct. Actually, I still would've even if instinct hadn't been a part of it. Having my chin scratched was one of the many pleasures of being a cat.

Tohru scooped me up and cuddled me. "Can we keep her?" She asked tentatively.

Oh, this was going to get good. Shigure and Yuki looked at each other, then shrugged and nodded. "Sure."

Kyo chose that moment to wake up. "What's going on?" He glared, obviously pissed that someone woke him.

"Look what we found!" Shigure sang.

Kyo's eyes flickered with confusion, and recognition.

_Shh, this is getting fun._ I whispered into his mind.

"So, what do you want me to do about it?" He questioned, playing along.

"Ms. Honda wants to know if we can keep it. I think it would be a good idea; Kyo and Mika already have two kittens, so why shouldn't she? Although, if it was up to me, I wouldn't have chosen another cat, but maybe that's just me." Yuki explained.

Kyo cracked a smile, but hid it before anyone else noticed. "Sure, why not, but I'm not taking care of it. Thanks to Mika, I have my hands full."

I purred. "Aw, she's purring! I love this kitty so much!" Tohru squeezed me.

"What are you going to name it?" Yuki asked. Nobody noticed that I was nowhere in sight, or at least, my human form wasn't.

Tohru thought for a second. "How about Yumyu?"

Kyo couldn't contain a smile this time, and raised his eyebrow. "Yumyu?"

"I think it's a cute name." Yuki commented, glaring at the red haired cat.

_Let's never get Tohru a pet, alright? _I begged Kyo. He gave a small, unnoticeable nod, noticeable to me, but not to anyone else.

_You better change back, Tohru is getting attached already. _Kyo suggested in my mind.

I gave a small sigh, just a puff of air out of my cat mouth.

Then, I wriggled out of the girl's arms, and stretched. With a puff, I was back to my human form, already dressed, another plus to the differences in our curses.

"Yumyu?" I questioned the stunned three. Kyo chuckled, putting his arms around my shoulders, cradling me against his chest.

"M-mika? That was you? How? What?" Tohru stuttered, looking from her arms to me, and again, and again.

I rolled my eyes. "Roof?" I asked Kyo, gesturing to the lack of sun.

He nodded, and followed me. As soon as we lay down on the warmed tiles, we burst out laughing. After that was all finished, and all the laughing was gone from within us, I lay my head on his chest, and went to sleep again, as did he.

"_So show me the battlefield." Kyo said. We were in his dreams, lying on top of the roof, I was wearing my white dress that appeared in so many of my dreams I didn't know why. I didn't have anything against it, in fact, I liked it. Maybe I should find a white dress like this one, it was within the boundaries of my fashion, it was an old white, a gothic white. I could pull it off._

_I nodded, not wanting to argue because I knew I would eventually give in and do so. I focused, and then we flashed into the meadow I knew so well._

_It was huge, light, and beautiful. Too beautiful, much too beautiful for the death and fighting that was going to occur here. It saddened me, but it also gladdened me. I would pick nowhere better to die. Well, perhaps dying beside Kyo, after many, many years together, that would be nice, that would be better. But that was also impossible, and unrealistic. Perfection always was._

"_Wow." He commented._

_We were on the south side of the meadow, where I would enter in just a day and a half, day and a half, thirty-six hours to live, only thirty-six hours. It seemed so little now that I had met Kyo, he had changed everything. I wish I could say that I wished I had never met him, but I think that finally, I can die in peace, knowing that I did meet him, knowing that he was the one that I was destined to find, to love, my soul mate, and now, I didn't have to feel like I hadn't lived at all. Now I could feel like I had at least felt a little love, something that before Kyo, I had never experienced, except from Sayomi, nobody else. The other Kuro Nekos, they felt respect, friendship, and considered me their role model, but they didn't love me, they never could even if they wanted to._

"_So this is where it all happens, huh?" He asked._

_I nodded. "Yep, everything."_

_Then I walked to the middle. Kyo followed, and gave a small intake of breath when he saw what was hidden in the tall grass. As soon as my feet touched the circle of carved stone, it began to rise around me, rumbling, the white ancient stone forming into columns. And then it stopped. Around me, four columns. Below me, a raised platform, carved with the kanji symbol cat, and lion. And then around each, we a person like shape, carved like an oval shaped rounded maze. They both connected to a pool, the beginning, or perhaps the end, of the maze._

_Carefully, I lay down below the kanji for the cat, inside the maze. My body was incased by swirls and twists of the maze, but my actual body only touched one line, the end of the maze, my body was in the direct center, which was just the right size for my body to lie in._

"_And this is exactly where I die. As my blood leaks out of whatever wound I receive, it will wind through the maze, contained, and then combine into the center of the stone, the pool. As soon as the blood mixed, of the lion and the cat, the curse shall end, the dispute shall be over, and the others that are still living can live."_

_Kyo stood, shocked, looking down at me. I knew what I looked like. My black hair was spread around me, just inside the borders of the maze, my blue eyes were closed mocking death, and my hands were at my sides._

_I felt the coldness of the stone through my white dress even though the sun was out, knowing that it would be warmed only by the crimson liquid that would drain into it._

"_I will walk here, leaving the others behind to continue their quarrel, as will the other leader. We will stand on our graves, and then we bow to each other, and fight, never leaving the stone. And then, we will parish, at each other's hand, at the same moment." I gave a small sigh. Not a sad sigh, just a sigh of boredom. I had known this since I was young, as young as I had first heard the prophecy. It was something that I had practiced, dying; I wanted to look beautiful when I was dying. This story, of how I would die, that used to be my bed time story._

"_But you'll still have some blood in you, right? Maybe you can just give a little, along with the other leader, and then the curse will be broken." Kyo gave a hopeful smile._

_But I shook my head. "It will be all of the blood in my body, not one drop may be left in the leaders bodies if the curse is to be broken, not one. Believe me, so many have looked for loopholes, but nobody could find any."_

_Kyo's fingers traced the maze, dipping into the carving, feeling the smoothness of the tunnels, where my blood would flow easily down into the pool. I sat up on my elbows, looking at him. And then I noticed something. His eyes, they had a thin line of tears, tears, I had never seen with Kyo, not even when he was physically hurt._

_But physical hurt is nothing compared to the hurt of the heart. And I knew this, because I felt it too._

_I pulled him to me, and kissed him, our lips molding together, his warm lips on my own cold ones, creating sparks between us. He rolled onto me, gently gripping my shoulders. I pulled back, looking at his perfect face that was above me, I would miss his face so much, his hair, his smell, his heartbeat, his everything. Then I pulled him down into our kiss once again._


	22. Chapter 22

_I pulled him to me, and kissed him, our lips molding together, his warm lips on my own cold ones, creating sparks between us. He rolled onto me, gently gripping my shoulders. I pulled back, looking at his perfect face that was above me, I would miss his face so much, his hair, his smell, his heartbeat, his everything. Then I pulled him down into our kiss once again._

_**Chapter Twenty-Two- Kyo's Pov**_

_I kissed her, again and again. I never wanted for her lips to leave mine; I didn't want her to leave me. I could feel the tears that prickled in my eyes just a few seconds ago fall down my cheeks, and onto her face, adding to her own tears. I didn't know what to do. Plan after plan that formulated inside my mind, failed to fully live up to expectations. I was so lost already, what would I do if she was actually gone?_

_But her gentle kisses tore me away from the concerns that were whipping through my head, and I focused on returning all her affection, fully. When we finally broke for air, I didn't move off her, I just held her close. I loved smelling her scent; it was so fresh, delicate, like snow and rain, mixed with just a little bit of fresh, organic vanilla. I wondered if she liked my scent, I wonder if I had a scent. It couldn't be as good as hers. I loved the feel of her cold soft skin, with just a little heat which made her comfortable to the touch, and also was just a reminder that she was alive. These were just a couple of the things that would be gone when she died, and the most important of all, she, Mika, would go. Her lifeless and soulless body would be the only thing left. I didn't want her body; I wanted her, everything of her. Maybe I was selfish, the curses were something that couldn't be controlled, I should know, but I still felt that there was something that I could, that I should do. The only problem was that I had no idea what that was._

_We lay there the rest of the dream, kissing, holding each other, all on top of Mika's grave, her place of death. And the incredible thing was, she seemed so unbothered by the fact that she knew where she was going to die, and she was actually here, lying right where she was going to be, for the last few seconds, perhaps minutes, of her life._

_When I asked her about this, she replied. "To me, I would rather know where and how I was going to die, if I was going to die early. I would rather understand how and why it was occurring, rather than to be kept in the dark to find that someone or other knew this the entire time, and kept it from me. The thing is I knew this since I was very little, so little that I never even imagined having a long life. Dying naturally still seems so, strange, to me. Dying like this, letting my blood twine through this maze to the pool where the curse will be finished, it seems so natural because it's all I've ever known. I can accept it because of this."_

When we woke up, we found that the day had passed, sending me into a panic. This, weither I liked it or not, was one of Mika's last days, and we had spent it sleeping, how could I do that? That didn't mean I wasn't going to find a loophole, and save her, it just means, just in case, no. I couldn't let myself think that way. I was just going to make sure she had a good, relaxing time before she had to fight, just to clear her mind. Yes, that was a good plan.

Sensing my distress, Mika kissed me gently. "Trust me, there's nothing I would've liked to do more." Winking, she leapt down, all the way to the ground, and walked into the kitchen, smelling the salmon that Tohru was cooking. I quickly followed.

Yoyo and Miki were playing in the kitchen, Tohru standing happily over them, giving them small little pieces of fish. Mika leant down and scooped Miki up, and then Yoyo, cuddling them, and then put them into Tohru's arms. To Tohru, I'm sure this meant nothing to her, she didn't know. But I knew, and I also knew what Mika was showing by handing them over to Tohru. The other girl was going to be the one to take care of the, along with me, when Mika was gone. She was handing them over to foreign arms, letting them know that they would need to get used to this new girl, for reasons they didn't know, but for reasons they would be forced into. I used to wonder if the kittens were nessesary for Mika to get, but now I realized, it was her way of having last wishes, her way of getting the most out of her limited time left. It was eight in the night, which means Mika had twenty-eight hours until she would have to go to the battle. It almost overwhelmed me again, but I held it back. If Mika could remain so strong while she watched her hours disappear, I could too.

We ate dinner happily, Mika laughing at some joke that Shigure made about me. I glared at him, but my glare softened as Mika giggled, and gave me a quick kiss on the cheek, just to remind me that they were joking. "Mika, Mika, Mika, what would we ever do without you? You make Kyon-Kyon seem so tamed." Shigure chuckled. Mika laughed too, but sadness appeared in both of our eyes. What we will do without Mika was going to be figured out soon, according to her, as well as years of prophecy. And it was my job to make sure that we never had to find out, that we never had to be without her.

After dinner, we retreated to our room, Shigure retreated to his office, Yuki retreated to his bedroom, and Tohru went outside to sit on the porch and enjoy the night air. Mika opened the window, just to let the cool and fresh air invade our room, and twirl through her hair, making it lift gently with each easy gust.

Miki and Yoyo tumbled into the room, and Mika laughed, shutting the door she had left open just so they could enter. "Silly kittens." She picked them up and flipped them over so their stomach was towards her, cradling them like babies in her arms, she rocked them back and forth, sitting down next to me against the bed.

"You picked out a cute couple." I whispered to her, scratching Miki on her large baby stomach, which was covered with thin black hair. I was of course referring to how much they resembled both Mika and I, Miki, Mika, Kyo, Yoyo, and I knew that my girlfriend had done this on purpose.

"Didn't I? I think they were made for each other." She smiled, her eyes looking up to me. I smiled back at her, and continued to play with Miki. The little kitten's pearly white pointy teeth gnawed gently on my thumb, her scratchy tongue licking the salt off of my skin.

Mika giggled, looking down at the little black kitten, then back to her own. She held Yoyo in her lap, and was dangling her long black hair for him to chase. His small orange paws attempted vainly to grab the little strings of black, standing up on his back legs to catch them as they went higher, his front paws inching up Mika's stomach, before he couldn't stretch anymore. She laughed, and let Yoyo grab her hair, to which he curled up in her lap around the strand of hair he captured, chewing it gently and licking it, making sure not to hurt it. He was so aware, even for a kitten.

"I'm going to miss these two." She sighed. I whipped my head up. She saw me, and gave a small smile. "Sorry."

I sighed as well, and then continued to play with the kittens, until it was time to go to sleep, both of us yawning, and the kittens already fast asleep in their thick pile of blankets. We crawled into the large bed together, and Mika cuddled up to me. "So where do you think you're going to be when you're gone? Will you go back to that place that I saw you before?"

She shrugged. "I don't think it'll be the same place, I think that was just limbo, that's why you were able to lead me out. That's why there was that pull. But when I was in the tunnel, on each end there was a way that I could choose. One was dark, one was light."

"Death and life?" I questioned.

"The other way around actually. Life was darkness, but you were there, you and Sayomi, that's why I came back. But on the other side, that was death. It was the meadow, or a meadow, so beautiful and sun filled. I could smell flowers, I could hear a small little waterfall, and it was calling me. And then you came, you reminded me why I had to stay. I went through the darkness, and silver bars fell into place, and then, I was alive, next to you. And you want to know the best part?" He nodded. "I don't regret it one bit."

He smiled, grinning widely in spite of himself.

And then we slipped into the light of our dreams, filled with sun, kisses, laughter, and whispers.


	23. Chapter 23

_And then we slipped into the light of our dreams, filled with sun, kisses, laughter, and whispers._

_**Chapter Twenty-Three- Kyo's Pov**_

The next day passed so quickly, it was mind numbing, literally. Mika and I lounged around, relaxing in the sun. Before sunrise we went out on a walk, enjoying the coolness of the night before the sun emerged. We observed the many colors that decorated the sky as the sun rose. But other than that, we stayed in, Mika was resting, and I was planning. Well, I was long done with planning, but I was thinking over my plan, rather proudly.

We were up in our room, and Mika was changing into something, she wouldn't let me see what it was. It was five hours before the battle, and she wasn't even panicking, she was calm, and normal.

"Okay, I want your opinion." Mika called, and then she stepped out.

She was dressed in a black outfit, black baggy pants gathered at the calf, and she was barefoot. She was also wearing a black tank top that was made out of tight fabric, clinging right to her skin, but it looked amazing. Her black hair was French braided, silver strands entwined into it, the silver forming a thick band that made a small little dip on her forehead above her nose, a crown, with a blue jewel dipping just between her eyebrows. Her blue eyes were even more electric and beautiful; her pale skin was giving off an eerie, but gorgeous, glow. She looked so beautiful, so perfect; it looked like she was going to a royal party, maybe even the zodiac banquet, instead of marching to her death.

"Everyone had the same uniform, but I'm the only one who gets to wear the crown, and the shorter pants and shirt. The others wear long sleeves and long pants." She commented, adjusting the crown just so it was perfectly centered, the jewel resting perfectly on her skin.

She turned around, showing me not only the two silver swords that she had in hilts crossed on her back, that were inlayed with the same blue jewels, but also something that wrapped around her shoulder. "What is that?" I pointed.

She gave a small smile; it was obviously something she liked. "It's my tattoo. It identifies me to my gang. We all have them on some part of our body, black with blue, and in the tribal style. Mine wraps around the front of my shoulder to the back of my shoulder." She pulled down her tank top to show me a tribal tattoo pattern, bold lines that framed her shoulder blade, and her front part of the shoulder, slipping down to a bit of her very upper arm. It was beautiful, the black bold lines were outlined with blue, which made it seem like it glowed.

"It's beautiful, you're beautiful." I praised her. She grinned, pulling her tank top again. She then took off her swords, and I led her down to dinner. I had asked Tohru to make her favorite, inari and red bean cakes, and of course Tohru being Tohru, she did so without questioning me.

Seeing this Mika smiled and kissed me quickly before sitting down with everyone else, and we all dug in. "This is very good Tohru." Mika smiled to the girl who was eating just across from her.

"O-oh, thank you, thank you, I'm so glad you like it! I wasn't too sure if I was using the right rice, but" Mika laughed, cutting her off.

"It's perfect, have more confidence in your cooking!" She smiled, for the first time ever, at Ms. Honda, obviously surprising the cook.

Shigure's eyes swept over Mika's uniform. "Are you going somewhere special tonight?" He questioned.

She nodded happily. "Very, very special, once in a lifetime experience." I knew that she wasn't referring to the battle.

"Hmm, sounds intriguing. Unfortunately, I have to finish my manuscript." Shigure sighed sadly, obviously believing he was missing out on a lot of fun.

"You finish your manuscripts? Your editor's always complaining that you don't though." Mika said, puzzled.

He stood up, and patted Mika on her head. "That's the point." And then he went to the back and I heard his office door close. Mika giggled.

We spent the rest of our time, laying on the roof, looking up at the stars and the full moon in silence. They were fighting at midnight, on the night of a full moon. It was the perfect setting for an ancient battle to finally take place; even I had to admit that.

And then, Mika lifted her head from my chest, sitting straight up. Without glancing at a clock, or any lunar positioning, or fancy stuff like that, she said simply. "It's time." And then, taking my hand, she leapt down to the second story. Walking to our room, she strapped her swords on, and then, she carefully removed a large piece of black fabric from the dresser I had let her use, I didn't need it.

She unfolded it, and revealed it was a large black cape, with a large hood, that looked like it could cover her entire head, and when she put it on, I found that it did. It enveloped her into a cloud of darkness, an occasional silver glint of her crown or her braid would show for only a second, and then it would be dark as a night sky, lightened only by the glow of a new moon. She looked, like an ancient priestess, who was walking along on a secret mission, instead of to her death.

"And this is where we part Kyo." She said, sadness and pain slipping into her voice, even though I was sure she did her best to hold it back.

I looked up. "What, no! I'm coming with you!"

She shook her head. "No you're not. I can't have you be part of our fight, I can't risk you dying. I love you too much for that; you must live for me, not just for you. You must enjoy for me, you must be everything for me, experience everything that I couldn't. Please, don't argue with me, just promise me, you will remain safe, and out of the way. I don't want anyone to touch a hair on your head." Mika stepped forwards, a pale arm snaking out of her cloak, and fingered my hair. "That's my job."

And then, she was gone. But that was alright. Everything was working out just as I had planned. With that in mind, I went to the window, and watched as five girls, cloaked in darkness, moved to battle.


	24. Chapter 24

_And then, she was gone. But that was alright. Everything was working out just as I had planned. With that in mind, I went to the window, and watched as five girls, cloaked in darkness, moved to battle._

_**Chapter Twenty-Four- Mika's Pov**_

Each step I took, I took west. Every time I put my foot down, I remembered that these were the last footsteps I would take so easily. This was the last time I would walk past these woods, the last time I would walk beside my little sister, Fuyu, Mai, and Amaya. These were my last moments in this world, just like I had known for my entire life. I was so young when I learned what my purpose was in life, yet I remained unbothered by it. My purpose was simple, yet so complicated. I was born, to die. Nothing more, nothing less, just to die. Many times I had wondered why anyone would create something, just to kill it in the end. But fate, birth, life, can all be so cruel, that they would make something just for the purpose that it would grow up knowing that it would bleed to death, that they would make two of those. Sometimes I forgot that I wasn't alone in this mission, to die. The other leader, whoever she was, we never used names, just for that little runt, Hamji. But she didn't matter. All I knew of the other leader was that she was beautiful, the few glimpses I had gotten of her. She was the opposite of us. She had blonde hair, almost white, but a golden color like the animal she represented. Her eyes were dark, a deep chocolate that glowed golden. She was tall, tan, and fast, I wouldn't have had a chance against her in a fight, so in a way, walking to my death was so much easier than falling on the battlefield.

"Mika." Sayomi whispered, taking my hand. I knew that she didn't expect an answer, just from her tone. It was a sad tone, a knowing tone, a numb tone. I had never seen my little sister like this. Her face was stony underneath the hood of the cloak, her beauty looked just as cold as mine. I knew that I looked, not stony, but icy, I had returned to what I was like so many times before, but this time, even more so. I felt iced over, like nothing could ever warm the ice on this body. Perhaps it was for the best I would be leaving it behind soon.

Soon, we were nearing the clearing. I could tell just by the feel, the pull, that I could tell was yanking us towards each other, us being the two rival gangs. Even with the knowledge that the pull was pulling us towards my doom, and perhaps others doom, none of my girls showed any hint of being afraid. None faltered in their step; none had tears in their eyes. They all wore frozen looks, hard looks, feeling less, even though I could see Fuyu and Mai's hands clasped, just like Sayomi's and mine, a form of comfort to the small part inside that was indeed afraid, that was crying, that was reluctant, that didn't want to die.

We were there. We were standing just in the shadowy outline of the trees, our cloaks making it impossible for the other gang to see us, but we could see them. They were lined up in a careful formation, their leader in the front, forming a triangle, two behind the first, and then three behind them. Their grey cloaks were blowing in the gentle wind, their hoods were down. I knew that, as the custom was, we would drop our cloaks where we stood as the battle started, and then, after the battle was done, the cloaks would be grabbed once again, worn by the living, and laid on top of the dead, a shroud. Our cloaks were made that way, to serve us in both life, and death.

I took a breath, and then released it, not to calm me down, but just to savor the air that was still in my lungs. It would be one of the last. And then, I stepped out into the meadow, followed by the others. Blue eyes met brown, and we stared at each other, emotions gone from our faces, yet very much apparent on the other gang's faces. They looked hateful, Hamji looked scared, and the leader bared her teeth, growling. I took no notice. I was going to die tonight, she was as well, but the difference was, I would go gracefully, would she? No. But she had recovered nicely, not as well as I had though, that gave us an advantage. Not over her, but over the rest of the group. If the leader is weak, the others are too, purely emotional, not physical, but it becomes so. The others noticed this too, and they nodded at each other. Sayomi had let go of my hand before we entered the other gang's view. Mai and Fuyu had parted as well, and now, we had no hint of emotion, connection, which gave us another advantage over the others, because unbeknownst to them, we had a deeper connection than anyone could ever guess.

And then, the other gang ripped their cloaks right off their bodies. Obviously, they didn't expect to need them, they were much too confident. We gently dropped them, the wind carrying them gently to the ground.

Then, the lions charged for us, their white clothes contrasting against ours. They were dressed in tighter clothes that were mainly used only for looks, not for fighting. Much too confident. We didn't move an inch, as they reached middle ground, we took one step back. They took this as fright, and sped up their charge. Then, when they were an arm's length away, I whispered into my mind.

_Now._

At the same time, we all did a black flip over the attackers, clearing them easily, and landing just at the point we wanted, right at their backs. With a swift kick to their backs, they all fell, and then we regained our exact standing, but now at a different place, in a line, standing tall. We were perfectly coordinated with each other, moving as one body rather than five different ones. Now, we each zeroed in on a specific person, Sayomi took Hamji, but before one hit could be landed, the lion ran, off into the trees.

_Leave her, join with Mai. _I ordered Sayomi in her mind.

And she obeyed me instantly, joining with Mai against a lion, who was downed rather quickly by the two skilled fighters. Only one of the gang members was in an animal form, but luckily, we had three available people to be on that.

I then caught sight of the other leader. She was staring dead at me, a sneer on her face. "Let's finish this now." She yelled.

But I didn't step towards her. Instead, I began to walk towards the stone circle, towards the maze, directly towards my death.


	25. Chapter 25

_But I didn't step towards her. Instead, I began to walk towards the stone circle, towards the maze, directly towards my death._

_**Chapter Twenty-Five- Kyo's Pov**_

I watched from the woods. I could only make out the colors, black and white, twirling in complex circles, kicks shooting out, blocks being administered, hits being landed. Cloaks littered the ground, some black, others grey. I saw a face I recognized, Sayomi, who was fighting a large golden cat, a lion, along with Mai, and Fuyu. They moved dizzyingly fast, impossibly fast, even faster than the lion gang, it seems the smaller cats had the upper hand over the slow moving others, but then again, the lions had more brute strength. Both were obviously skilled.

I managed to pull my eyes away from the fight, and saw the one person that I had come to find. Mika. She was walking slowly across the battlefield, her face completely iced over, and I realized all the nekos wore the same stony face, while the others fought with so much emotion in their expression. I had never seen them all like this, especially Sayomi, her face was always bright, plastered with a sweet smile, but now it was icy and hard, nothing showed through the mask she had put on, no fear, no tiredness, nothing. Yet I had seen this look on Mika before, it was her guarded look, the first look that I saw of her. It was before I had managed to somehow thaw the ice around her and have her open up; it was before everything, it was that day that she stood in the rain at school.

I turned and looked back at my two companions, who were surveying the scene just as I was. "Are you ready?" I asked, and they both nodded. We had been over the plan, working out all the kinks, working through the exact layout of our attack, but we hadn't expected the battle to be like this. We would just have to go on what we knew.

I nodded, and then we ran into the battlefield. Sayomi was the first to see us, and she let a small smile slip through her cold expression. She nodded over to Fuyu, who had branched off to fight against a formerly downed lion. I sent Yuki over, yes, Yuki. I had managed to convince the rat to help, and in the meantime I had lost all of my pride, but it was worth it. After seeing the lion ripple, and turn into an actual lion, I sent Shigure over as well. Yes, Shigure, the writer who was on a diet. He volunteered once he heard about it, and I wasn't going to be the one to refuse him, he would only throw a fit. Yuki fought almost equally as fast as the nekos, and Shigure was surprisingly good at blocking and hindering the lion so that the other two could land their hits and kicks.

Then, Sayomi nodded once more, towards the center of the meadow. And I automatically understood what she wanted me to do. I ran to see if I could catch up with Mika, but with each step I took, no matter how hard, it seemed as if I was in slow motion, she was too far away, not too close to the stone yet, but too far away. She was too far away in more way than one, I wondered if I managed to get her out of here, if she would ever come back.

I looked around, and knew that it was time for plan b. Plan b hadn't been one that any of us particularly liked, but in reality, it was the only one that would do the job right, and it was the one that I could do, it was up to me now to save Mika. With a deep intake of breath, I grabbed ahold of my wrist, and gently removed the bracelet that had remained there almost all the time since I was very, very small.

My spine whipped into the new shape, I felt my skin changing into a dark green leathery type, my eyes narrowed, my head changed, I fell onto my hands, watching as sharp claws emerged from my human hands, before those too changed dark and scaly. And the final touch grew in, the fangs. Everything was stilled to me, even though I knew that the lions and cats were still fighting. My monstrous form seemed to be able to register the movement before it happened, slowing the movements down.

With a deep growl, I leapt forward, and started running. Everything that was originally in my way dived out of the way, and those that didn't, was run over easily, I had picked the path with mostly lions for this one purpose. When the two gangs discovered there was a newcomer, and he was on the neko's side, the lions looked slightly panicked, to say the least.

But Mika didn't stop, she didn't look back, she just walked towards the middle of the meadow, surrounded by chaos, the lion's leader slinking next to her, I could almost see her muscles holding her back from leaping onto Mika and tearing her pale skin to pieces. I ran faster, my claws digging into the ground, dirt flying from behind me, leaving the torn black fabric of my shirt behind, only my cargo pants remaining even on this dragon-like monster, me. In the back of my mind, I began to wonder what Mika would say about this side of me, but I pushed that behind me. It wasn't as important as the present.

I emerged out of the battle, still behind her. Everything was so slow, even me. I saw Mika's braid bounce with each step she took, her bare toes digging into the ground, giving her power forward. Her tight tank top showed her hips drop, one at a time, then raise again, one at a time, with each step she took. Her black pants floated slightly in the gentle wind, and the rays of sun that shone down caught in the silver that was intertwined in her hair and on her forehead.

My claws dug into the ground, just as the same time her toes did, my back legs came up to take their next leap just as her foot took the next step. Somehow, although I was going faster than her, by far, I couldn't near her, it was as if something was forcing us apart, slowing everything down, so that I could only watch my one and only love die. Fate could be so cruel, fate and life, and of course death. Those were the cruelest, fate, life, and death, for none cared the pain they caused, they just did their job, and abandoned others.

Just as I thought I was beginning to gain, as I was almost speeding up, as I almost regained all hope once more, I was flipped; something had hit me hard from the side. So fixated on the girl in front of me was I that I had failed to notice two transformed lions, that had slipped away from the others. Now, they were on top of me, each prepared to claw me, bite me, maul me.

_This is it. _I thought, as one raised her paw. I waited for the claws to descend, to gouge my face, to rip open my chest, to allow me to bleed to death slowly on the ground of the grassy meadow, dying beside Mika. But they never came. I felt a sudden removal of all the weight that had been on me, and opened my sharp dark eyes. I saw the glint of silver before I saw her, my angel. She was on top of one of the lions, the other already limp and unconscious.

Then, her blue eyes turned to me, and she did something that was the last thing I ever expected her to do. People had held their nose, commented on the smell or ugliness, ran away, been frightened, but Mika was none of those things, did none of those things.

Instead she crawled to me, and then gently stroked my head, lifting it into her lap. I closed my eyes in happiness, forgetting for the moment where I was, only caring about the girl in front of me. Just then, as quick as anything I've ever felt, something restricted my arm, my wrist, and even with this strange skin, I could feel the round cool beads. I opened my eyes. _No! _I tried to tell her, but she just looked down sadly, knowing what she was doing.

I twisted and turned, and then, I was human again. Mika looked down on me, with a small smile, and then she whispered into my ear. "_Nice try."_ And then, she kissed me. It was a kiss that needed no words, no "I love you", nothing, just the kiss was needed.

And then, before I had time to react, she laid my head on the grass, and then started to run towards the center, run fast, instead of her walking. I struggled to get up, ignoring the soreness in my muscles, in my bones. But by the time I began to run, it was too late. I watched as her bare pale foot touched the stone, where the lion was already waiting, and then, I was blown back by a huge gust of wind, that expanded in all directions, generated from the center stone.

I landed hard, next to Yuki, Shigure, and the rest of the nekos. The lions had been thrown the other way. And no matter how hard we tried to get up, something kept us down, kept us watching as Mika and the other leader danced around the circle, each stopping once they got to their kanji symbol marked maze.

Everyone watched as the leaders bowed deeply, each studying the other carefully, and then, weapons were drawn. But they didn't resume a fighting stance, they simple held out their sharpened metal, the lion leader had a samurai sword, and Mika held her two swords, and then, with a small nod at the other, they pushed forward.

I tried to yell out, but no voice would emerge out into the open air. I saw Mika fall, slowly, carried down by the wind, as was the other. They gently landed on their maze, and blood began to leak out of the wound that each had inflicted, deep gouges in their once flawless skin, rips in their once unmarked clothes.

But then, something unexpected happened. Each of them began to glow, a golden glow around the enemy girl, and a black glow from our own Mika. Once the glow subsided, their human bodies were gone, in their place, was the lion and the cat. The maze pattern began to glow as well, and it too shrunk, outlining their fallen and limp limbs, and then the carved half tunnels began to fill with crimson liquid, that flowed down, like a small little stream, inching along, each time a little more added, the growing blood flow causing the increase. The lion of course because of its size was losing more blood, but it didn't matter. I could tell from here, they were both too close to the brink of dying to be saved now. Mika was dying, for real this time. There was nothing I could do, I had failed, again.

And then, a jet of light, strong and bright, rose from the center of the circle, where the blood had begun to pool, the joining of the two enemy's blood. Cat blood merged with lion, and the two colors, white and black, twined up into the heavens, the wind picking up, creating a small twister around the light, the bright and dark only showing in small places the clouds of whipping air failed to cover. The sky above began to rumble, dark clouds forming in a perfectly bright and clear sky, lightning flashing down, and then the very end of the electric bolt touched the center, the blood. I could see it bubble and boil, holding the yellow flash still, the jagged shape freezing from the sky all the way to the earth. Then, gradually, red began to inch up the formerly golden lightning, until it was a red strike that was coming down from the darkest clouds that Japan, or anywhere, had ever seen. With another deep booming rumbling, the lighting retracted to the sky where it had first come from.

Then, everything stopped. The wind subsided, the clouds cleared, and the light dimmed, before it disappeared altogether. Surprised gasps echoed around the meadow as those who had been in animal form shimmered, and then transformed back, lions returning to battle ready girls, cats returning to even more battle ready girls. And then, the force that used to be holding us down let goes, sneaking away into the forest. It was over, everything was over.

Everything passed in a blur; I remember darting to the stone, followed by Sayomi, then Shigure and Yuki, then the nekos. The lions, on the other side of the meadow, did the same, until we both reached our fallen leaders.

There, lying in the middle of the maze, that was now coated red instead of its former white color, was a small black cat, and a large pale lion. For a while, we all just stared, half expecting each to suddenly get up and leap for each other's throats, but they remained completely motionless, soulless, spiritless, empty, cold, and breathless.

I knew without having to feel for it that her heartbeat was gone. Her heart had entwined with my own, and I felt something go just when the dark clouds gathered. She had suffered through all of that, except for the very last part, she had been still there as her life-force drained from her body. She had suffered, because I had failed to protect her.

Then, Sayomi carefully picked the small cat from the stone, and cradled it in her arms. Her face remained cold, stony, but I could sense her deep pain, deeper than a simple facial expression could justify, deeper than any sobbing or tears could portray. If she felt what I felt, it would feel as if her heart had been ripped out of her chest, torn right out of its safe place in the body.

Fuyu, Mai, and Amaya gathered around her, and Yuki put a carefully placed hand on my shoulder. And for once, I didn't yell at him, I didn't feel any irritation or anger, I was too empty to feel anything. She was dead, really dead. I wouldn't be able to go into my dreams and see her, she wasn't in limbo anymore, she was gone from the entire mortal coil, and she was gone now, forever. This couldn't be happening, but it was.

Sayomi saw the cat begin to shiver, and put her down once again on the place where she had died, and then, Mika's human form emerged out of the animal, pale and lifeless, as did the lion. Mika was in her torn and bloody top, while everything else about her was perfectly the same. Not one of her black hairs was misplaced, her crown wasn't even a fraction off, and her jewel hung right in the middle of her eyebrows like it was supposed to. She was so beautiful, so perfect, even in death.

And then, her eyes opened.


	26. Chapter 26

_And then, her eyes opened._

_**Chapter Twenty-Six- Kyo's Pov**_

Her sapphire eyes stared into mine, and then they blinked, and looked around at the people that surrounded her. I couldn't move, I couldn't think, maybe I was hallucinating. But with a quick glance around at the other frozen people, I determined that it was indeed real, she was looking at us. Then, she opened her mouth. "I cannot believe that actually worked."

And with that affirmation, all the girls shrieked and then crowded around their leader, their friend, and for one of them, her sister. I stood stunned. What worked? What happened? What the hell was going on?

Forget all that, she was alive. I pushed through the crowd, and her eyes caught mine once again. Then, she sat up and pulled me towards her, pressing her lips against mine, her very much alive lips. When we pulled away, I asked what we all were wondering. "How the hell did you do that?"

She grinned happily. "Well, you actually gave me the idea. When you changed into your true form, you reminded me that the whole point of this battle was to end the curse, to take the leaders' blood. It was to end the transformation of the cat and the lion, who I determined to be the leader. I wasn't the _actual _leader of the gang; I was the human who had the spirit of the leader. So, I just changed into the leader, kuro nekohime, and then, I let her die. Before we stabbed each other, while we were bowing, I told the other leader this, and we arranged it together, it was a bit of a gamble, we weren't sure if the loophole would work, but I guess it did!" Mika gestured to the lion leader who was now sitting up, and being happily welcomed by her own friends.

I smiled at how proud she obviously was, and a little piece of me regained the little pride I still had when she said that she had gotten the idea from me.

I then helped Mika stand up, and before we sunk into the group hug I knew was coming, and that Yuki, Shigure, and I had wisely decided to back out of until we could test if we could still hug these girls, Amaya looked at Mika. "I honestly thought you had died! I'm so happy, we all are, that you're back, I don't know what'd we'd do without you!"

Everyone grinned, and then then joined each other. Mai gently kissed Fuyu on the cheek, Sayomi grabbed onto her sister's shoulder hard, as well as joining with Fuyu. Mika was the first to withdraw, and I walked over to her, kissing her forehead.

"It's nice to be back. Almost dying two times in one month, man, someone up there must hate me. I couldn't even thi" She began to say, but then Mika went rigid, very suddenly.

"You okay?" I frowned.

She looked up at me, swallowing hard, her eyes showed more emotion that I had seen, pain, fright, and one that I could just gather, betrayal. But why was she feeling these from me? "Did I do something wrong?" I asked, concerned.

Mika shook her head slowly. "Kyo, I love you, so much, don't forget that alright?" She gasped out, and then she fell into my arms, collapsing. Thank god I didn't transform, something kept me from doing so. Nobody had noticed us yet.

She was limp in my arms; her feet slumped, barely supporting her, arms flung over mine. When I shifted her, her head lolled back, her eyes still open, but just barely, enough for small streams of tears to leak from her vivid blue eyes.

"Mika?" I asked, she tried to look at me, but couldn't.

I looked up to call someone, and I realized I had been wrong, one had noticed us, Amaya. She was standing behind Mika, a gruesome smirk over her once relatively pretty face. Her eyes looked dangerous, and ice cold, but not Mika's ice, a heartless, almost evil iciness. Her heart, I'm sure, was just as cold as the blade of which she held the handle to. "Just don't know what we'd do if you died. Oh wait, maybe I do. I would be leader, I could have that beautiful house to myself, and maybe, I wouldn't have to watch you, you with all of your little family, your little friends."

A blade that had been discarded on the battlefield long ago, forgotten when the leaders had fallen, was now freshly soaked in blood, the sharpened metal tip just poking through black fabric, just poking through pale skin.

"Mika!" I yelled. Everyone turned as I sunk to my knees, Mika completely collapsing. As Mika fell, Amaya pulled the blade out of her body with a sickening sound, the sound of something being wrenched through organs, skin, coated in blood, and then popped out. The rest of the gang stood, all their eyes fixed on Mika, then the blade, then, Amaya. And that's when their looks turned more than murderous, more than angry, they looked, dangerous. The icy, emotionless look fell over them, and slowly, one of the girls took a step forward. Sayomi. Slowly, she prowled forward to Amaya, who was unaware that anyone was walking towards her, just smirking proudly down at the bloody girl in my arms.

And with one thrust, Amaya fell to the ground, the blade piercing through her stomach, and then the murderer was killed, brought to justice, and left to die with the blade still stuck in her, left to bleed to death, as all turned their backs, with one final whisper. "_How does it feel?_"

"I don't think there's a loophole for this." Mika chocked out.

I shook my head. "Of course there is we can call Hatori, he can do something, Shigure, go, and get him!" I yelled at the dog.

But the dog just shook his head, confirming what I already knew; Mika wasn't going to make it. "You never did like her." Mika whispered to Sayomi, referring to Amaya, who was crumpled on the ground.

"Please, Mika, we just got you back, don't leave, please." I whispered, as did Sayomi, and all the others.

With a grimace of pain, Mika managed a laugh. "Sorry, but I guess it really was my fate to die today. And if there's one thing we all should know by now, is that fate can be cruel."

I felt something inside slipping away from me, and I knew it was Mika. Her eyes stared into mine, but then they began to get glazed over and dull, I doubted she saw me anymore, she couldn't see the tears I cried; she couldn't see the girls who stood in shock, tears pouring down their cheeks. She couldn't see the tears the dog and the rat spilled for her. She couldn't see the blood that dripped out of the girl that betrayed her for the simple reason of jealousy.

I saw her body shimmer, and then, her black clothes were gone, replaced by a thin white dress, and a blue gauzy scarf covered her head, open and now covering her shoulders or neck, just accenting her crown. All the blood had disappeared from her, leaving her unmarked, a vision of perfection, except for the lack of soul, heartbeat, and breath.

That was how she looked in her coffin during her funeral just a few days later. Her black hair fanned out against a blue satin pillow, silver still entwined in it, her crown still on, her eyes closed. She looked as if she was sleeping, like her eyes would open once again, and she would say "I can't believe that actually worked" or something like that. That she would pop up, finding a loophole from death once again, so she could stay with me.

But the blade had done its job, much to well, and she remained fallen in her coffin. There was no priest; she wasn't even being buried in a cemetery. We had managed to dig a suitable and professional like hole, and bought a coffin, to bury in a small meadow, on our own property, just in view from the roof, so I could always look out over her.

Arisa, Tohru, and Saki were standing, next to Yuki and Shigure, all eyes down, tears pooling in some eyes, with others they were running down cheeks. Sayomi was dressed as the other nekos were, in long black dressed, with veils over their pale faces, wearing long black gloves, so that none of their skin, nothing, could be seen. She stepped forward and laid a black rose and a blue rose, right on top of the dead girl's chest, folding her hands over the stems, the flowers tilted to rest on her breast above her heart. I stepped forward, dressed in a black suit, and a black shirt, and I put a lifted her hand, and slipped a small silver ring onto her middle finger, a small cat, whose tail incased her finger, my way of promising myself to her, I would live for her, for myself, I would live. I would tell her of everything I saw.

And then, I sealed the coffin, and it was lowered into the ground. Then, Mika was covered by dirt that was so gently brushed down into the hole, as if we feared waking her, hurting her.

The girl had died for the third, and the last time.


	27. Chapter 27

_The girl had died for the third, and the last time._

_**Epilogue- Kyo's Pov**_

I was lying in my bed; Tohru was beside me, her hair grey and her skin wrinkled, as mine was. Kisa was beside me as well, her hair beginning to whiten, next to her husband, Hiro. Everything was dim, the light no longer was able to reach my eyes, and I knew that the next shaky breath I took would be my last. And I took it, with a smile.

_Then my spirit separated from my body, and I floated away, leaving my family, my friends, behind, and entered a long darkened tunnel. But I was leaving the darkest side, and heading towards the light._

_Behind me, silver bars slammed shut, with a resonating bang. I couldn't go back. But I didn't want to. I wanted to be here, in the darkness of the cave like tunnel, I wanted to be here for my entire life. But I did what Mika had asked me to do, to live for her. Only because of what she said, I lived._

_Hobbling down with my slightly hunched back, I slowly made my way down, not walking, but more shuffling. My cane clicked as I set it down with each step I took, it had followed me even to the afterlife. My withered hand held onto it shakily, the other running through my still fiery orange hair, the curse hadn't left me even in old age, just all the others. The zodiac curse had been broken, disposed of, but mine hadn't been. I looked down at the bracelet I wore, cold beads against my warmed, but cooling skin._

_And then, with one final click of the cane, I was at the entrance of the place I would stay in forever. It was the same meadow, from what I could see. Tall, beautiful trees towered around the clearing of soft looking grass and loose dirt. Moss crawled over some of the rocks, and I could hear the rush of the water, but not well, my hearing and eyesight had gone through the years._

_As I stepped into the grass with my bare feet, which I had left that way just for that reason, I felt a strong pull from the tunnel; it pulled my very skin back, shifting my hair, and yanking back my cane. I grabbed for it, catching a glimpse of my skin, no longer was it wrinkled. Instead, it was the lightly tanned, smooth, skin that I had had in my youth. I felt my face lifting, transforming, my eyes returned to their sharp corners, my skin was soft, and unblemished. Orange hair whipped in my now bright crimson eyes, and my clothes were changed from the flannel pajamas I had come here in, to the black v-neck shirt, and the cargo pants I had always worn._

_Then, I stepped into the grass, and the dark tunnel disappeared completely, showing me something that it had originally blocked. It was a large house, two stories, with a paper door I had gone crashing through so many times. I remember the house, it had been torn down many years ago, determined unsafe, and forcing me to move to the Sohma family house, where I stayed for the short years I had left, unbothered by anyone, Akito already passing at the young age of thirty._

_I saw two figures exit the door, probably seeing the dark tunnel that appeared outside their windows. One had grey hair, and was dressed in traditional Chinese clothes, aligned perfectly on his slim body, the rat. The other was just a little older than the young grey haired man; he had black hair, and was wearing a baggy grey kimono, the dog. They smiled widely once they saw me, waving. I returned their wave a little hesitantly; they had both died eleven years ago, of a sickness that spread through Japan, many perishing of it._

_Two girls joined the two men, both in pale jeans, one in a blue shirt, and the other in a black shirt, Fuyu and Mai, holding hands, just as old as they had been when the final battle occurred._

_Then Yuki pointed up, towards the roof. I turned my eyes up, and saw a figure, dressed in white, her black hair blowing in the wind, her eyes closed, but I knew when they opened they would be the shocking sapphire blue that I haunted my dreams so many nights, every night, every time I closed my own eyes, I could see them, standing out against the darkness. Along with her crown that glinted silver in the sunlight, a small silver glint came from her hand, her middle finger._

_Soaking up in the sunlight, two small cats rested next to her, one black, the other an orange so close to my own hair, Yoyo and Miki, both as young as they were when Mika had died. Yoyo's ear twitched and he looked up at me, and then, Miki looked up too, they ran over to me, crossing over Mika's stomach to get to a place where they could easily get down without injury._

_Woken by the brief pressure, Mika sat up, looking puzzled as the kittens ran off, to greet me. Following the cat's path with her eyes, they finally met my own. She let out a shriek of delight, which caused me to grin, and she leapt straight down, as she had done so many times, and almost beat the two animals in their race to me._

_She tackled me to the ground, kissing me hard, our lips finally uniting again. When she finally let me up, she dragged me back to the house, where I greeted my two cousins._

_And this is where I stayed, forever, with the rat, the dog, the others that were already there, or soon joined us, and Mika, the girl with the blue eyes._

**Author's Note: **Thank you so much for reading, and reviewing. I hope you enjoyed, I know I did. **OC story is coming next, within the next two weeks, I promise. TELL ME WHAT YOU WANT? I AM WRITING A STORY THAT INVOLVES HATORI BUT IS NOT A 'TORI LOVE STORY, I'M WAITING ON HATSUHARUXOC. It might be called "Ichi" but I'm not positive, only on the second chapter…. Please, favorite me, or do whatever you need to do to get story updates from CorneroftheMoon!**

Please, don't forget to review! Thanks!

-Echo Salazar


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